The Souls of Heroes
by LD 1449
Summary: There is never only one change. There are always many changes. Because one thing will change another. It will affect something more. Ripples through time. Irrelevant to some, disastrous to others. There can never be only one change Emiya Shirou. There will always be consequences.
1. Chapter 1

_Soul of the Lost withdrawn from its vessel...I am the bone of my sword_

_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended...Steel is my body and fire is my blood_

_Soul of the Lost withdrawn from its vessel...I have created over a thousand blades_

_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended...Unknown to death_

_Soul of the Lost withdrawn from its vessel...Nor known to life_

_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended...I have endured pain to create many weapons_

_Soul of the Lost withdrawn from its vessel...Yet these hands will never hold anything_

_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended...So as I pray,_

**So the world might be mended...Unlimited Blade works**

* * *

He felt like retching the moment he woke up. His head was pounding as though that _**Berserker **_was using it like a doormat.

One thing could safely be said about Emiya Shirou: When he felt like doing something, he did it. He took only half a second to suck in a breath before he lurched himself onto his side. He dry heaved until he managed to reach his hands and knees; only then did he allow himself to fully retch up whatever he'd had for lunch.

Purplish green gunk splattered over stone, the smell was immediate, horrid, and overpowering. He reeled, pulling himself away before he retched again from the assault on his senses alone.

He fell again, nearly flat on his back as he backpedaled and finally had a moment to look at his surroundings.

_' .hell?'_

That was Shirou's immediate, and only thought as his eyes swept over the massive face of a castle.

_A castle!_

Why the _hell_ was he in front of a castle?

Where was there a European western style castle in _Japan!?_

It was with some difficulty that the teenager was able to push down the quickly rising panic enough to actually look around his immediate area.

A splotch of red on the cold granite floor caught his eye, without thinking, he rushed forward.

"Tohsaka!" He yelled, all but sliding on his knees as he reached her, turning her over so she was lying on her back rather than on her side.

She groaned, prying the sound from her throat like she was waking after having just been hit by a line backer. She blinked, staring up blearily at his worried face. She stared blankly for a few seconds, then..."You look like hell."

Shirou sighs, half in relief half in exasperation. Then he sees Tohsaka's eyes widen, her pupils dilate and with that same, lurching motion he gave just seconds ago as his warning, he grabs at her hair and holds it behind her as she swivels around to throw up.

She coughs and sputters, making heaving noises as though she's about to throw up all over again before she inches away from the half digested mess on the floor. Weak as a kitten, he helps her pull away and stand up.

She looks around, and unlike his reaction, she doesn't panic. He's fairly sure he's the more normal of the two. "Where are we?" He questions after a second.

"You're asking me?" She shoots back, swallowing thickly with a grimace, no doubt the aftertaste of the vomit is making it just as unpleasant for her as it was for him. "I appreciate the confidence but I'm not omniscient Shirou."

He would have spoken again to say that he already knew that but decided to look around instead. "Where's Saber?"

That made Rin look up. "Strange."

Shirou shook his head, troubled, looking down to his hand he saw the command seals were still present, the two remaining runes glowing brightly on his skin. He sighed in relief. "She's still alive." He noticed then that Rin wasn't moving.

"Rin, what's wrong?" He was worried that she was going to throw up again but the second he looked down to her he saw what had driven her to stop.

Her command seal was glowing too, that little crescent at the base of her hand where it met her wrist was glowing again, as bright as day.

"Archer." He heard her mutter, almost frightened at the possibility. He would have said something more, but was interrupted by a groaning, shuffling sound to his right.

He and Rin both turned to look:

The man was grotesque, skeletal thin, his skin was blotched with weeping sores and fresh scabs from what looked to have been self inflicted wounds. He was dressed in blood stained rags that couldn't even really be said to cover much of anything.

Shirou narrowed his eyes, standing in front of the still wobbly Rin. He saw the starved man gripping a thin, long knife in a white knuckled grip.

The youth cursed and after looking for a moment he reached down and grabbed a long, thin stick. Strengthening the improvised weapon, he made it as hard as a steel pipe.

The sick man stumbled forward, groaning as his listless eyes focused on them.

"Hey!" Shirou called holding up his weapon in a single hand like a sword. "Stay back, I'd rather not hurt you."

But at his words the man's eyes grew sharp, his breathing quickened, white foam oozed from the edges of his lips as he yelled and sprinted at them.

Shirou felt himself tense with surprise; not at the fact that he was being attacked but rather at the sheer lunacy he could feel in this man. It was as though his mind had been completely melted away and now only base instinct and the wish to do violence was left behind.

The man had a dagger meant for piercing, but he swung the thing like a club, projecting his attack to the point that a child could have stopped it.

Shirou didn't think, he swung the stick almost as a reflex and struck the man's hand and wrist with all his might.

There was a crunch of bones being snapped, but to Shirou and Rin's immense surprise the man didn't even stop. His weapon fell, but the crazed dreg surged forward regardless, grasping at Shirou's neck with his left hand.

Shirou gasped, the sound half choked as he backpedaled to try and get away but he tripped on Rin's feet behind him, and both he and the man fell as she yelled out his name.

The man's broken hand joined his other, clawing at the teenager's neck and Shirou placed the stick across the man's naked chest, directly beneath both arms, and pushed.

The madman yelled some more, pushing himself down with more force, his fumbling fingers losing their grip on Shirou's neck, leaving only fingernails to scratch.

Shirou could feel and hear the man's bones shifting sickeningly beneath the skin of his fingers and hands, it was a revolting sensation that served to drive home only how sick this man was.

Then with a brutally hard blow to the back of the man's head he was unconscious and Shirou pushed him off in an instant to see Rin standing there, plank of splintered wood in hand as she stared at the downed attacker.

Shirou scrambled to his feet, rubbing at his neck. "What the hell is wrong with him!" He shouted at no one in particular.

"Don't know, but you wanna be here when he wakes up?" She grabbed at his wrist, not waiting for an answer before she turned and began to drag him behind her.

Then they both froze.

Across from them, formed of contrailing wisps of white, smoky flames was a man, clad from head to toe in what looked to be steel armor, they could not see his face, all they saw was the gesture.

His hand reached, beckoning them forward quietly, urgently, then he turned and began to run across the bridge.

"What the hell is this place?" Rin asked this time.

Shirou took a second to look around the bridge, noticing splintered wood from shattered barricades, overturned carts, putrefying animals and people, burning corpses piled high along its edges.

He looked, and when the phantasmal presence paused to beckon them again, he made his decision.

This time he grabbed at her wrist and pulled her along.

"Come on!"

Ahead of them, the Phantom turned and ran again.

* * *

Ostrava cursed as his run came to a dead halt, face to face with a sheer wall of stone, the prince-turned-hedge-knight rounded, Runesword and shield at the ready when nearly twenty others chased him into the dead end yard.

He counted them all quickly, a dozen dreglings, the rest were crazed soldiers.

Even a dozen dreglings would not have been overmuch risk...his armor was of plate steel, and he knew well how to defend the weak points from their pointed daggers and how to block the blunted clubs three of them were wielding.

No, the problem here were the maddened soldiers.

Though wild and crazed, the soldiers retained some of their training. They had weapons, and they knew very well how to use them. Four alone, at once, in such an open space would have been a challenge.

There were five of them with a dozen dreglings for backup.

He gripped the runesword, tightening his stance as he backed up towards the corner. Best strategy was to put a wall at his back. If they had to come at him, they were gonna come at him from the front.

The dreglings didn't wait much longer, they rushed forward all at once tripping over eachother and injuring the ones at their side with their wild movements.

One even had the good grace to trip and skewer himself on his own blade before it ever reached him.

The others weren't so graceful. Ostrava cut off the first one's hand at the forearm, when he tried approaching with an upwards strike from the left, spinning around, he slipped into the guard of the second, delivering a solid elbow across his face that shattered his nose and most likely snapped his teeth with the metal encasing his limb.

Then he spun again, this time punching with his shield, the very edge of his rune shield struck at the next dregling's forehead. It barely broke the skin but Ostrava heard the crunching mess that was his skull splintering and shattering beneath the sack of his skin.

With a parry and a counter riposte he opened the chest of the fourth.

The fifth was too close to swing at, so he swerved, feeling and seeing the knife scrape uselessly across his breastplate as he kicked at the crazed dreg's knee, shattering it with a single blow of his shin guard.

A sixth one grabbed at his shield arm, holding it in a vice like grip, belied by the sheer lack of muscle or mass on his frame.

Ostrava cursed, using his sword to strike at another of the dregs who was rushing at him, dagger in hand.

He opened up his face, the tip of his runesword cutting into one cheek and emerging out the other in a splatter of bloody viscera. The thing that had once been a man slumped over, dead.

Ostrava then twisted the blade in his grip, holding it in reverse he stuck it under the shield and pushed.

The warm wetness of the blood seeped through his shield arm as the dreg holding him lost all strength. Ostrava kicked him off and turned;

The spear scrapped harshly across the crown of his helm, sparks flying, Ostrava felt his heart leap into his throat as he backed again towards the wall, two of the soldiers were rushing him with the remaining five dregs, their spears in hand, they each struck with coordination that defied their collective madness.

His shield met the first, sword parried the second, then the soldier that had struck his shield pushed with his spear and Ostrava stumbled, losing his footing on the dead at his feet, leaving him wide open for the third.

"Haa!"

The third spearhead never struck. Before his very eyes the thing snapped off, and it was only then that Ostrava saw the woman.

Clad in blue and silver, she held nothing in her hands, but her stance hinted otherwise. Her blond hair and clothes were already spattered with blood, the dreglings and the crazed soldiers turned at the arrival. And Ostrava found himself shouting before they moved.

"Run! They'll kill you!"

The woman took her stance, readying herself with absolutely nothing for a weapon. "No, they won't." She answered so simply he almost believed her outright.

When the dreglings rushed her, he did believe her outright.

She struck down three of them before he'd even blinked, her movements were so fast Ostrava would never have believed the tale without being witness. She deftly skirted around their strikes and returned with her own devastating ones, only the stance she held and the movements she made, revealed that she was wielding a sword.

Not even blood coated the weapon, rebuffed by some invisible barrier.

But he could hear it, a faint whistle. Like the sound of a sharp wind through the trees.

The two soldiers that hadn't attacked him turned, and by that time she'd already cut down the last two dreglings.

One held a chained flail, the other a simple sword.

She raised her blade, as the first soldier swung with the flail, its chains coiling around her invisible blade before she yanked it out of his grasp, swinging her sword, she cut the man down with the tip, and then, with the same motion stopped the blade in such a way that the coiled flail shot out, sliding free and smacking the second soldier in the face, most likely killing him.

Being dumfounded long enough, Ostrava finally had the mind to capitalize on the distraction the woman had presented. He pushed back with his shield, shoving himself off the wall. He cut down the spearman that had tried to skewer him, then turned and cut down the one whose weapon he'd deflected.

The last spearman tried to hold him at bay with the spear lodged in his shield, pushing him back, Ostrava harshly twisted his forearm, snapping the spear at the neck, the head lodged firmly between the opening slit of his rune shield before he rushed forward and ran the man through from stomach to back.

The Knight of Boletaria turned and regarded the woman before him.

He instantly knew, even covered in blood and grime that she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on.

His tongue swelled in his mouth and he found himself gaping like a fish beneath his helmet before he was fully able to compose himself.

"I-I thank you for your timely aid my lady." He said. "I am..." He paused, catching himself. "I am Ostrava of Boletaria."

"It is no trouble." She said, nodding. Then she turned her back, the bloodied, invisible blade dripping onto the floor. "But I must go, I have to find my friends quickly."

"W-wait!" He called out, his hand outstretched towards her back. "Allow me to accompany you. As a Knight of Boletaria I would be remiss if I allowed a lady- even one as skilled as yourself -" He added hastily. "To wander through these madmen alone."

He wasn't sure whether she wished to argue the point or not, but apparently, her haste to find whatever friends she was looking for won over her urge to say something more before she began walking.

He fell in step beside her and the two marched through the streets of the desecrated city.

* * *

The two moved quickly and quietly, the phantom leading them deftly through the tight streets, often times its ethereal shade would round a corner, only to be gone when they rounded the same corner and be on some walkway above, pointing them where to go. Other times he would vanish altogether, leaving them to wander until it reappeared again, walking across a yard or hallway into a room where they followed, just in time to avoid a group of wandering madmen.

They called out to him at first, but he never spoke, and twice they'd drawn the attention of someone they didn't want. So for now, Shirou and Rin both kept their mouth shut and followed quietly.

They were up above on the walkways when their guardian angel finally slipped up, or completely forgot about them. The thing ran across a wide open bridge, lined from one end to the other with aimlessly wandering crossbowmen that hadn't seen them yet.

They didn't even take notice of the spirit, though it walked past them plain as day.

The moment he reached the other side the spirit turned and beckoned them forward.

Rin pursed her lips in displeasure before she turned her head to look at Shirou, both of them hiding behind a pillar. "I don't know, but Casper the friendly ghost seems to have forgotten that crossbow quarrels tend to kill people. Might explain how he died in the first place."

Shirou narrowed his eyes thinking for a moment. "I think I have an idea."

Rin looked at him and Shirou soon turned, rounding a corner they'd passed by. Rin raised an eyebrow, curious, then she watched him as he dragged forward one of the wooden barricades.

When he saw her looking at him he pointed at the wooden slab. "What if we reinforce this? Then we carry it across with us, to stop the arrows.

"Are you a complete moron or just half of one?" She said, eyes narrowed at the sheer stupidity of this. "They're not just gonna let us walk right past them because we have a big piece of wood.

"It can at least protect us then while you fire off some spells." He shot back. Tapping at the wood he gave her a pointed look, "No arrow or spear is getting through this if we reinforce it Tohsaka"

Rin rubbed her temples. This had stupid written all over it.

Damn ghost.

"Alright I say that we-" She paused, curiously, eyes swiveling up to the roof. "Do you hear something?"

Shirou listened, and realized that he, in fact, did hear something.

It sounded like...were those wings?

With a crash that threw the floor out from under him and then shot it right back up so it could hit his knees he fell forward, hearing the screeching hiss of some beast, he and Tohsaka looked to the bridge just in time to see a perched _dragon- _a god damned, heaven as their witness, _Dragon_ currently swallowing one of the soldiers!

The others screamed, even their crazed minds enjoying the sensation of fear brought by this terrifying beast. Some shot at it, most fled.

They didn't get far.

The dragon swallowed his victim, blood dripping from his mouth before he reared back, and with a hollow howl breathed out a river of red hot fire onto the bridge.

The soldiers screamed in agony, the furthest of them burning slowly, he screamed the loudest, and the longest as his clothes were burned onto his flesh, as his skin roasted and his organs popped within his body from the heat.

When he fell, the red dragon took to the skies once more.

Shirou and Tohsaka stared from where they were, wide eyed and disbelieving.

"Wha-Di-did I just see what I think I saw?"

And across the other side of the bridge, the phantom still beckoned them forward.

Of the two of them, Rin was the first to regain her wits and taking only a second more to look to the skies, she stood and ran across the bridge.

"To-Tohsaka!" Shirou yelled after her before he too stood up and ran.

The ghost beckoned them, more urgently now and a second later Rin heard the flapping of wings.

Her heart pounded in fear and the young woman rushed forward with greater speed, sprinting towards the doorway, to the safety of indoors.

She ran straight _through_ the phantom and behind her she heard Shirou's footsteps. She could almost feel the gust of the wings at her back. She didn't wait, she threw her shoulder into that door and smashed it right off its rusted hinges. She fell on the same shoulder, rolling so she could look outside she saw the Dragon just as it landed again, Shirou grabbed at the doors edge, bringing his sprint to an end as he rounded the corner just as the beast breathed its fire breath again.

It wouldn't hit Shirou, but she was dead center of that fire breath.

She reached into her jacket pocket to pull out one of the few remaining jewels that was left to her for a defensive spell. She would never be able to stop that on her own.

But she wouldn't be quick enough. The fire was swallowing the distance between them in milliseconds too fast for her, too fast for a servant even.

She almost missed the instant the Ghost appeared in-front of her, standing at the door.

The white, wispy thing held its hands open, and with a crash like water on rock the fires were stopped dead in their tracks, not passing the door as Shirou grabbed at her arm and pulled her out of the way.

When the fires died down, Rin saw the ghost collapse, falling onto one exhausted knee as the sound of flapping wings announced the dragon's leave again.

Rin and Shirou stood frozen to the spot, watching as the Ghost looked at them, and she could almost swear the thing was smiling sadly behind that helm.

She wanted to say thank you, but her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and the words died on her lips.

The ghost turned his eyes away from them, and then, pointed wearily to a lever Rin hadn't noticed before.

Before she or Shirou could say anything, the Ghost fell forward, his ethereal body making no sound, though he fell flat on his face. Then he faded away.

Without saying anything, Shirou moved forward, checking out the door before dashing to its other side, he put his hands to pull at the lever the Ghost had directed them to.

She would have asked how he knew it wasn't some trick, but bit her tongue at the last minute.

At this point...if that Ghost wanted to kill them, he'd done a very bad job of it.

* * *

The gears of the opening gate were so loud Saber and Ostrava heard them clearly, hell, Saber was sure everyone in the entire castle had heard it.

"What's that?" She asked.

"That must be the main portcullis!" Ostrava answered. "Your friends." He concluded. "They're the only ones who could have opened it! The madmen wouldn't! Come, this way!" He turned and began to run through the narrow alleys and winding streets.

"Your friends must be as strong as you my lady." He said panting for breath as he led her. "I had been searching for a way past the red Dragon for some time now."

Saber stopped for a full second before she ran again, eyes wide with shock. "Did you just say Dragon?"

Ostrava glanced behind him, glancing at the woman over his shoulder. "Yes, the power of the demons has lured them from the distant shadow lands. The red Dragon circles above the rooftops and bridges, the only entrance to the main gate's release mechanism. If your friends made it past both it and whatever madmen wander up there, they are clever indeed.

Saber grit her teeth, worry splayed across her beautiful face. Her lips thinned. Shirou was not dead. She _knew_ he was not dead. She may not be able to sense him as a normal servant and master would, but he was still her master. If Shirou were to die she would _know! _She would...

Ostrava went into a building, winding his way through the soldier barracks and the storehouses with the garrisons spoiling provisions before he finally opened a door to the exterior of the castle.

The door, couldn't even be called a door really. It was a barred entry way that led into a narrow crevice passage where one man could barely fit walking normally. Furthermore, the main 'entrance' to this area was elevated, with neither a stairway nor ladder to the ground that was about fifteen feet below.

Ostrava didn't hesitate, he strapped his shield onto his back, sheathed his sword and jumped, Saber followed.

Then they ran some more.

By the time they reached the main gate, which Saber realized was absolutely _massive, _there was no sign of either Shirou, or Rin, only an abnormally large lance embedded in the floor, and a barrier that felt like the void itself was standing in place of the physical barricade that was the portcullis.

"They're not here." She said, her voice ringing with a note of disappointed sadness.

"I apologize my lady." Ostrava said sincerely. "I-I did not mean to raise your hopes needlessly.

Saber shook her head. "No...there is no reason to apologize."

With a screeching of rusty iron gears the two turned, their weapons held ready as they looked to the rising bars of a postern gate.

"Saber!"

Saber froze, her face showing surprise for a moment before she relaxed, smiling as Shirou and Tohsaka stepped through the doorway, dirty, worse for wear, but alive.

"Shirou, Rin."

Ostrava for his part, heard the relief in her voice, but even so it did very little to truly reassure him.

These people were dressed strangely, stranger than any he'd seen before and that was saying something when your homeland had been overrun by demons. The young man's clothing was of strange material and the young lady called Rin was downright indecent.

Regardless...they were sane. Which was more that could be said for most of the people in his homeland right now.

He sheathed his blade again and saw the black haired girl, dressed like a _working_ lady, turn her eyes to him. "Saber, who is this?"

Saber flushed with embarrassment. "Ahh, forgive me. Rin, Shirou, this is Sir Ostrava, Sir, these are my friends Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin."

More foreign names he'd never heard in his life. Doubtless they were from some distant kingdom with such alien names and odd clothes.

He nodded. "A pleasure, but I'm afraid we have no more time to dawdle here." He said simply. "That portcullis opening was probably heard throughout the entire barracks. In just a few more moments this place will be swarming with the soulless dregs, or worse, the red Dragon."

He saw Shirou and Rin tense, confirming his original suspicions that the two had slipped past the dragon and did not in fact, bring it down.

It was Saber who first brought her eyes to the barrier. "Sir, what is this?" She asked.

Ostrava looked to the barrier, taking it all in as he stepped forward, the massive doorway that could fit entire platoons marching abreast was covered from edge to edge, top to bottom in a shifting, nebulous fog.

"It's the colorless fog." He said, raising his hand to brush across the very surface of it. "I've never felt it this strongly before." He noted, mostly to himself. "This must be it, this has to be the Demon anchoring the fog here."

"Not to interrupt-" Rin said, saying one thing but very clearly intending the opposite. "But what are you talking about? What demon? Just what is this place?" _Or when is this place? _Were the words she kept to herself.

Ostrava turned, regarding the three. He addressed Rin. "My lady, I have no time to explain now. But I must go through this fog and face the demon beyond. Should I survive I will explain everything after."

"And if you don't survive." She deadpanned. "Then we'll lose our only lead at finding out just what is going on.

Ostrava realized she was right. The demon stood beyond this gate, he could go in and fight right now. If he slew the beast, it would slow the fog, it may even push the encroaching nebulous death back. But if he failed, if he died, then these people would be left defenseless, more victims to the Demons' insatiable lust for souls.

He was about to speak when there was a shuffling from somewhere in the castle, things falling and a groan that sounded too much like dregs for his comfort.

"There is no time." He said, pushing back his sense of chivalry in the face of urgency. "Go, now! Find somewhere to hide from the dregs, I'll find you once the demon is defeated.

"I will not allow you to go in there alone." Saber spoke, stepping forward.

"I thank you my lady, but neither of your friends have weapons, they would need you to defend them."

Saber paused, but just as she was about to say something more Rin growled out something unintelligible and marched right past the both of them and stepped into the fog.

"Rin!" Shirou shouted, having remained mostly quiet until that point before he followed his classmate.

"Wait no!" He heard Ostrava cry just as he entered the nebula after her.

* * *

The moment he stepped through the barrier, he felt like some cloying, fungal liquid had replaced his blood.

His entire body convulsed like he was sick, as though a switch had been pulled and now everything was in reverse inside of him.

The air felt too cold, too thick. Like he was sucking on some watered down milkshake, it flooded his chest and stomach with cold while his skin burned hot from this strange place.

He saw Rin directly ahead of him, one hand at her skull another gripping at her stomach.

"A boundary field?" He heard her ask herself, wondering. He grabbed at her hand, pulling her back.

Ostrava stumbled through, his knees wobbling only for a second before he recovered himself as normal.

Saber came through last, and the blond servant immediately went to her master's side.

"Shirou, are you alright?" She questioned pointedly.

He took a second to speak, struggling to do so the first few times like the words were being pushed back down his throat by the cold air he was breathing.

"J-just give me a minute." He gasped. "Check on Rin."

"I'm fine!" the dark haired girl snapped before she finally brought her eyes up and into focus.

The entire chamber was littered with bodies from one end to the other. Rusted, grime covered metal works of armor, swords, spears, axes bows, arrows, quivers, hide, plate and all other manner of tool designed for warfare wielded by a person was around them.

They'd just walked into a tomb.

Ostrava unsheathed his sword, bringing his shield up. "There." He breathed.

The others had already seen it though, a blue light at the other end of the cavern, perched atop a hill of...was that mud? Tar?

Ostrava took a step forward, ready to approach the beast before him when he noticed something.

The walls were melting.

A thick, black grease oozed its way out from between the cracks in the stone bubbling up from the floor, dripping from the ceiling and trailing down from the walls.

The Knight moved to rush forward but the moment his foot touched the black stuff now emerging from the ground in front of him he felt his feet stick to the ground so hard it was like he was caught in knee deep mud.

With a curse he pulled himself free, nearly falling soundly on his hindquarters for his efforts.

"Ostrava!" He heard the blond knight's shout behind him! He didn't think, he just reacted, bringing up his shield without even looking.

The javelin struck so hard his armored wrist smacked him soundly across his own helmet when it hit the shield.

Off balance, the Knight of Boletaria did fall this time, just in time as another lance rushed through the spot his body had occupied a second later, burring itself into the very stone of the walls. An impossibly strong throw.

Then it melted and rejoined the growing puddle of ooze on the floor.

The black grease was forming up, coalescing into numerous, bulbous...pod like slugs.

Then the front part of their bodies visibly hardened, receiving form and shape. Where only bubbling ichor had existed now lay the face of a tri-pronged shield.

Hundreds of them lined the cavernous chamber. From one end of the hall to the other, impassive faces of a hundred shields lined in row after row, packed atop one another the closer they got to the source of this magic at the other end of the chamber.

Then they formed spears.

The spears emerged out of their sides like some mutated cancerous growth, hardening to be as strong as steel, if not as sharp.

Ostrava, Saber, Shirou and Rin were currently surrounded and staring down hundreds of pointed spears.

Then, the creatures started throwing them.

* * *

Every step was painful.

It wasn't sharp pain. It was an ache. That slow, rolling _constant _pain that couldn't be alleviated no matter what you tried or how you moved.

He wanted to collapse...he wanted to fall, roll over and just drop dead for a day...or a week...at least until his arm healed itself again.

He took another step.

The sun was just beginning to rise when he finally reached his destination...

Damn near every tree was broken.

Trunks with the width of a car had been snapped like twigs, or uprooted entirely, or had been toppled by sword swings that had ripped out entire chunks of them.

And there, almost at the center of all this damage was a girl.

He walked over, instantly recognizing her purple blue clothes, her white hair...Her eyes were closed and her pale skin had the distinct mark of tear-tracts.

The white haired servant known as Archer went to kneel at her side, falling so hard the small cleft where his knee met his shin stung like all nine hells.

He reached down, wincing with a sharp breath as he let go of his arm, feeling it shift with the added pull of gravity.

He pushed the girl onto her back, lightly tapping her face. "Illya." He called.

But the girl slept on, whimpering for her vanished servant.

Painfully, Archer reached down with his remaining arm, and as gently as he could manage with his undamaged limb, lifted the girl, so her cheek rested on his shoulder, his arm coiled around her thighs to hold her in place as he stood up with a drawn out hiss.

Thankfully, she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping herself upright as she cried.

Archer felt the ache in his body grow as he began to walk away from that place, Illya's hot tears seeping through his clothing.

* * *

Hello long time and new readers. This is my very first work involving both the Fate Stay Night universe, and Demon's Souls universe.

That said, I know a fair bit about Fate Stay and I know _alot_ about Demon's Souls, so I do not expect to make many mistakes, if however I do make mistakes please feel free to point them out, if it can be edited and fixed, it will be.

For those of you who've played Demon Souls however do not mistake liberties taken in the pacing, or the amped up bosses the protagonists will be facing as "mistakes" I've beaten Demon's Souls multiple times in various ways so I know the ins and outs of that game and its sequel Dark Souls like the back of my hand. But for story purposes, things will be done in a certain order/way, and the bosses, already difficult/impossible for some, will be given various boosts to their skills now that they're not "limited" by gameplay mechanics.

Now, to those of you who plan on reading this story, I will warn you in advance that the first planned ten chapters are very action oriented. There is very little character development and very little being done with the characters of Saber Shirou and Rin as a whole, primarily because these first ten chapters will be used to set up the groundwork for later development, of which there will be a lot of revolving around Saber and Shirou more than Rin, but a lot of character development/progression regardless.

For those of you picking up this story and are unfamiliar with Demon Souls I've made this as friendly as possible to non Demon Souls players. To anyone who's played Demon Souls but never watched Fate Stay you might find yourself a little lost truth be told but there really is very little way that I can avoid that. Go after two hares and you'll catch neither as they say.

Now this story has more or less been fully planned, There are five Demon's Souls realms each of which hold 3 bosses not including the final boss of the game. Each location already has an "outline" to go by and the consecuences to the actions the characters commit therin, BUT, I am working on picking up "The Void" again, as well as a few more things I'm dealing with on my end ATM so the update rate will be Bi-weekly AT BEST. It may be a little slower but this story does have an ending planned, I will not "get stuck" mid way with no way out. I know what I want to do and where I want to take it so I do hope to be able to carry it fully towards its conclusion.

Anyway, that's the conclusion to the first chapter of this story. R&R and I hope you all enjoyed it and I'll see you again in the next update.


	2. Chapter 2

The first spear was met by Saber's sword, the invisible blade clashing so harshly against the abnormally large projectile it set Shirou's teeth on edge. The ringing of steel against steel came again and again. His servant was swinging her weapon so fast that, if her blade hadn't been invisible before it would have been now.

Sparks showered the gloom of the chamber with bursts of irregular light as more and more lances were sent hurdling towards them. Every blocked or missed javelin simply melted away to join the mass of bubbly liquid that made up the creatures in the first place.

When Ostrava's shield came up to block the first lance that got through Saber's inhumanly fast defense Shirou knew his servant would not be able to keep this up indefinitely.

Servant or not, everyone had their limit, and with every strike of her weapon he could see the infinitesimal pause in her swing, when it clashed against the spearheads, those slugs were hurling their weapons with insane power behind their throws.

Ostrava cursed, staggering back and Shirou took half a second to look around at the plethora of bodies at his feet before he ducked and dragged out from beneath the weight of corpses and weapons, a slab of steel that nearly reached to his chest.

He almost pitched himself forward with its weight, but with added effort and strain, succeeded in freeing it.

He stumbled when the shield came loose bringing it up just in time for the plate of hardened metal to block a thrown lance that had been aiming for his chest.

The shield shot back against him with the impact, smashing into his chest and driving the wind from him. As he fell onto his back he wasn't sure what hurt more, his chest, his stomach, his wrists or his fingers that had been caught awkwardly between his body and the unyielding plate of steel.

He heard Saber shout at him in worry, and heard Ostrava's grunts of exertion as he maneuvered his rune shield to block the powerful blows. Even with the enchantments present, the blows were powerful enough to leave the prince's entire left arm throbbing with every blocked lance.

It wasn't until Rin finished her incantation that the four managed to get some breathing room.

With a shout, a tongue of fire came from her hand, spreading like some blooming flower into a wide sheet that slammed into the slug like beasts encroaching on them.

They shrieked, with a high, albeit, garbled pitch that Shirou could easily visualize an actual slug making in a moment of agony.

"Move!" The dark haired girl yelled, grabbing at Shirou's shirt and pulling him towards a thick pillar, one of six that lined the chamber.

Shirou's feet scrabbled for purchase, his balance and center of gravity was thrown off by both her pushing, and by him still clutching at the heavy shield.

Ostrava ran towards the pillar, all but sprinting with his drawn sword as he hacked and cleaved at the black creatures that were forming there, hoping to cut off the human's retreat.

The Prince's rune sword crackled with magic as it split their thick, dense shield faces in two, cutting it open to expose the soft liquid tissue beneath it.

The slug creatures hissed as his sword bit into their flesh, melting away immediately back into the cracks of the stone as Rin, Shirou and Saber took shelter with him behind the pillar.

Saber's invisible sword still struck at the lances being thrown at her, though now, with the area of attack narrowed, she was allowed some leisure unlike the frantic, harried swirl of blade swings she'd been forced to keep up since these creatures appeared.

Ostrava peeked his head around one corner, jerking back almost immediately to avoid a thrown javelin that clipped the corner of the pillar, turning stone to dust that grated at his throat and watered his eyes.

"Damnation, we need to get to the Demon!" He shouted, turning to Rin and Shirou, both of whom were standing between himself and Saber, their backs pressed up against the pillar. "That light, at the center. That must be the Demon's heart, or its mind; in either case if we hit that we kill them all."

Saber spoke as she deflected the weapons, grunting in conjunction with each impact on her blade. "You'll be killed if you rush at it, we need an opening."

"Working on it already." Rin commended, muttering a spell under her breath. Her hands glowed and then, shouting at Ostrava to move, the Magus rounded that same corner he had, chucking a fireball over the slug creatures head before her other hand swept forward with a sleet of spreading ice that grasped at the front most creatures with its cold touch, flash freezing a few of them in place.

She ducked back, in time to avoid a hail of thrown weaponry. Her back hit the wall, her forehead beaded with sweat from the concentration of casting two types of spells at once. Jewel magic was her specialty, not projectile elements. "Go!" She found it in herself to shout as she heard the fireball go off somewhere in the chamber with the screeching and howling of the beasts.

Saber wasted no time, and neither did Ostrava, both warriors sprinting out from behind the pillar with little to no hesitation. Ostrava's shield was raised up to his chin, keeping his vision clear as he reached the first of the frozen creatures, his rune sword cutting through their shielded faces like wet paper, watching them melt away with garbled, gurgling shrieks.

Saber was no different, plowing straight through the beasts, weaving between their thrusting and launched spears as though it was some easy dance. Quick and nimble, her sword carved through two of them at a time, chopping them cleanly into halves as she pushed straight through to the glowing light at the end of the hall.

Shirou had only a second of warning, a peculiar sound above his head that made him look up.

"Move!" He didn't have to yell, just pushing Rin was enough to get her out of the way and flat on her face when the spear came rocketing down from the ceiling.

Unfortunately, his careless shove had placed her out in the open.

He hefted the shield with one hand, then threw himself in front of Rin as every single slug that had been fixating on Ostrava and Saber rounded on the two of them.

Then they threw their weapons in an endless barrage at a single, hastily reinforced, shield.

Shirou, on his knees, placed his left shoulder to brace the slab of metal that was currently their salvation. The teenager found every blow to rattle his teeth and pound at his arm as though a professional fighter was using him like a punching bag.

Rin muttered another incantation.

"Hurry up!" He yelled, desperate as the sound of metal smashing against metal scratched at his ears, and the physical exertion began to take its toll.

"Just shut up and be a good meat shield or we're both dead." Rin answered before throwing another fireball over their heads, far away from where she'd last seen Saber or Ostrava.

As for Saber, she'd seen what had happened, her immediate instinct was to run back and protect her master, especially when Shirou had thrown himself in the crossfire, but the fact was that they were facing what was very likely an endless wave of enemies with an infinite number of projectiles to launch at them.

If she stayed by Shirou's side they would all die. She did not have the strength to use Excalibur, nor did she have the ability to endlessly block the rain of javelins that would be thrown at her. Even Servants could tire.

No, their only hope was to destroy this Demon before it destroyed them.

She pushed on through the thick of the creatures infront of her.

To the side of the chamber, Ostrava continued to hack and slash with his rune sword, his shield rising easily to parry or block the thrusts of the creatures he was facing. While the power of their thrown javelins was nothing short of monstrous, up close they were almost lackluster, like an arrow released before the bowstring had been pulled taut.

Rune shield and sword defended him, he hacked and shouted, yelling and cursing as the things melted into black ooze around him. He cut them down in such a frenzy that he never realized he'd reached the main body of the demon...

At least, not until his Runeblade bounced off its multi-shielded body as though it was a blunt tourney sword.

As one, the slug creatures again turned, all of them now aiming at Ostrava, recognizing the threat to their true form.

The prince barely had the time to sprint towards another of the six pillars before they started throwing their weapons.

He was fast, but these weapons were faster, and with the sound of wrenching steel and a weapon cutting through muscle and flesh Ostrava fell with a yell of pain, barely having enough strength to pull himself behind the pillar before his leg was mauled even further.

At the sound of his shout, and the cease in the barrage that had damn near knocked Shirou's arm from its socket Rin lifted her eyes towards where the slug creatures were converging with their simple, rudimentary intelligence. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a single, glowing ruby-like gem.

Shirou immediately caught sight of it. Then he saw her hesitating.

"What are you waiting for?" The read head shouted, incredulous.

"I only have five of these left." She glared at him. "They're expensive as hell!"

Shirou felt his eyes almost bug out of his sockets. "Are you kidding me?!" Although, he shouldn't really be surprised considering this was the same girl that had argued against using too many of those jewels to help kill Berzerker. Even then, she'd only used four after they'd agreed that she should use five. or more

Rin curled her lip, though he wasn't sure if she was angry at the situation or at him, before she pushed passed him and his shield to get out to the widest part of the chamber.

With a charge of Prana into the jewel Rin thrust her hand infront of her towards the Demon, and where Saber was still fighting. "Heads up Saber!"

The King of Knights looked, then immediately retreated from her fight swiftly, lest her ability nullify Rin's attack outright.

When the fires came this time it swept across the room like some great, crimson wind, the heat choked the air, the creatures garbled, gibbered and shrieked as their bodies melted, bursting almost completely into flame as soon as the fires touched them.

The fire washed over the Demon's main body like a river washing over a rock. Ostrava huddled behind the pillar, the flames becoming unbearably hot as they rushed past him, broken only by the immutable wall of stone and mortar at his back.

When the dust finally settled, Rin, Shirou and Saber were staring at an empty chamber save for the mound of shields in the center. A pale blue light glowing out from between the cracks in the defense.

Saber stepped forward, refusing to hesitate lest they be swarmed by creatures from the walls and floors again.

She swung Excalibur in a perfect downwards strike, her entire body driving the attack.

Even with her strength, and the power of her weapon, it was barely able to penetrate the much thicker shielding of the main body.

Then, out from between the folds a lance emerged, thrusting at her face, Saber reeled, dodging the strike before grabbing the lance and slicing it in two at the neck with one stroke, then driving her sword through the opening provided by the retracting shaft in the next.

The demon wailed like a banshee from hell.

The cry ripped through their ears, Shirou, Rin and Ostrava clutching at their skulls helplessly while Saber backed away, one hand at her head while the other kept her sword firmly in place for a defensive stance.

Then, like a gust of wind something blew through the hall, its form as ethereal as the ghost that had guided Shirou and Rin here and just as intangible.

It coalesced, and took form, like fog trapped in a transparent bubble, it floated in the air, becoming small, smaller still, then, it rushed forward.

Shirou was too slow, Rin was too slow, even Saber was too slow.

It struck Shirou across the chest like the hearty slap of an overzealous friend, knocking the wind out of him but leaving the boy otherwise unharmed.

Saber rushed over immediately, one hand on his shoulder while he pawed at his chest as though he were checking if he'd been shot.

"Are you alright? How do you feel?"

"What did it do?" Rin chimed in eying the boy up and down as though he was about to sprout wings and a second head.

Shirou paused for a moment, trying to feel out any abnormal sensations in his body until he finally shook his head. "Nothing." He admitted. "I don't feel anything anymore."

"Anymore?" Rin prodded, "So you did feel something."

"Yeah, but it was so quick I didn't even have time to really understand before it was gone."

There was a sound towards the center of the chamber and all three of them turned their eyes to see magical energy converging, reforming from wisps of mana onto a solid form, dirt, rock and gravel shifting as a blade-like object was suddenly, and violently thrust into the stone by an invisible hand.

Then, limping to the point of nearly hopping, and in clear pain, Ostrava managed to get around the pillar. "An Archstone?" He questioned, looking as though he wanted to move towards it, but feared falling without the support of the wall he was currently grasping at with one hand.

It was Shirou who finally had the mind to step forward and help the knight, slinging one of the man's arms over his shoulder. "My thanks" Ostrava muttered hobbling closer to the Archstone.

"So what is this thing?" Shirou finally asked when they were within touching distance.

"It's an archstone. There was one present at the royal palace in the ancient chamber, but the stones vanished with the incursion of the fog."

"What exactly does it do?"

"I'm not rightly sure, knights are not exactly allowed into the chamber of ancients to use this relic. _Neither are fifth sons_. He thinks, keeping his secrets.

"Well..." Rin mutters under her breath. "You're certainly wellspring of useful information."

Ostrava would have answered her with some equally scathing or witty remark if he were a lesser man who's upbringing did not dictate that a woman should be treated with respect...always.

Even women like this working girl.

Besides that, Shirou and Saber both chastise her for him with sharp barks of her name.

"Rin-"

"Tohsaka-"

She waves them off. Then with a cold little chill creeping its way up her spine she turns, Shirou, Saber and Ostrava having already caught sight of the ghost walking up towards them.

It was the same spirit, complete with wispy contrails of white fire trailing after him. It seemed to look them over as it walked. Saber went to raise her weapon when Shirou's hand on her wrist held her back.

The Ghost walked between them, a cold feeling left in his wake before he calmly placed his hand over the arch stone, falling to one knee as though in reverent prayer

Then he vanished again with a burst of magic. The smell of it lingered in the air, a strangely contrasting smell, holding a lingering sweetness, but sharp and white as ammonia.

The four looked at each other warily before Shirou finally seemed to shrug, reaching his hand forward until it was stopped by Saber grabbing at his wrists.

He looked at her, and found that frowning, disapproving glare, like the one she'd worn the day after he'd pushed her away from Berzerker's attack, and nearly got his body cut in half when the massive warrior's sword axe had grazed him.

She pushed his hand back down, as if to say_ -Haven't you learned your lesson yet?-_

He at least had the good grace to look somewhat apologetic.

Saber then extended her hand placing it on the 'Archstone.'

When it didn't explode infront of her, Ostrava took it as his cue to place his hand somewhere else on the hilt. If he was confused as to Saber and Shirou's strange behavior, especially at the fact that Saber was willing to risk herself first and foremost to Shirou, he didn't comment.

Rin was next, then finally Shirou placed his hand.

After a second or two with nothing happening, Rin went to open her mouth. "Sooo...what no-"

Then they vanished with a burst of magic.

* * *

He placed Illya on the bed, uncoiling his arm from under her as she rolled onto her side, curling in on herself. Archer found himself throwing a sheet over her without much thought before he turned and walked out of the room.

He barely had time to close the door before he collapsed.

He didn't even have the mind to put up his hand, he just fell flat, his cheek colliding with the floor. It was ultimately, just one more pain to add to the dozens more that assaulted his body.

Blood still seeped from his injuries. Not even his accelerated healing could undo the damage Berserker had caused.

Much less when he was so low on Prana.

But he could feel it replenishing, slowly, like the dripping drops of water refilling a bucket. He was receiving magic.

Rin was still alive.

Whatever happened in that forest, wherever she was, she was still alive.

So ultimately, Archer already knew what he had to do.

He had to find her.

* * *

The world had become swirls of half faded colors and starry light, a cool wind brushed across his face and Shirou stumbled when his feet returned to him and Ostrava's weight was still on his shoulders.

Both men nearly toppled to the floor, with the knight swallowing down a scream of pain as he put too much weight on his injured foot.

When they finally caught themselves and managed to look around they fell just as quiet as Rin and Saber had.

They were standing in the middle of a temple. Carved from black stone, and white marble. Curved stairways arced around them, supporting five slabs of rock, each with a different picture carved into its face. The sixth, at the highest point of the curving stairs was shattered, massive pieces of rock were strewn all around its base.

Beyond the first set of stairs, like arms wrapped over arms, was another set of stairs, winding up until both sets framed the top of an archway that simply extended back to the beginning of more stairs winding up in the opposite direction of the first and second set.

Then, directly above them was a statue, absolutely massive, its sheer proportion defied comprehension, especially since its bare feet hovered four stories above their heads. It was held up, only by what seemed from down here, thin protrusions of metal that were embedded into the wall above as part of some strange symbol on its back.

Plated in either copper or dulled gold, the statue was like a monolith looming above, a sword held downwards with one hand, pointed to the ground.

Ground, that Rin just noticed, was like a living canvas of starlight and symbols of magic.

It rippled beneath their feet like water, the gold symbols shifting and rearranging themselves into new designs, new forms with every footstep.

Ostrava almost screamed as he backed away, clearly distressed. Shirou wasn't able to stop the knight from falling into a sitting position by the stairs at the very edge of this unreal floor, like the stairs at the edge of an infinitely deep pool. He shouted, ignoring Shirou asking if he was alright. "What...what sorcery is this?!"

Saber took some steps, her eyes wandering freely.

The first thing she noticed before anyone else, was that there was no end to the chamber.

The ceiling , or where the ceiling was supposed to be above them, just stretched on and on and on, endlessly, pitch black above, an impossible creation, even with magic.

Shirou didn't feel it. But Rin and Saber did, this place felt off. Closed somehow, the world began and ended here, no further.

"A reality marble?" Rin asked, her voice filled with awe and wonder at one of the few, true mysteries of the world outside the realms of the four true magics.

"It could be." Saber answered. "But it seems too large...too complex." Admittedly, the only experience she had with Reality Marbles came from Merlin. The legendary wizard had demonstrated his possession of a reality marble only twice in all the years she'd known him.

This was similar, but wholly different at the same time. It was infinitely _more_ than what she'd been witness to before. The same way a sun dial was to a clock.

There was a soft pit pat of footsteps and with the dimensions of this chamber, the sound bounced off the walls enough to confuse them as to where it was coming from until a woman rounded one of the corners from a side passage.

She was dressed in rags. Moth eaten, dotted with small holes. The pants she wore were too high on her legs, cut off at the shins, the sleeves of her shirt ragged as though they'd been chewed up by rats before she'd put it on.

The only thing that fit her size was the cloak-like cape that hung heavy at her back, wrinkled and dingy, like her matted, knot filled black hair, the woman seemed to fit this empty place perfectly.

The most peculiar thing about her however, were her eyes.

Or rather, the wax that covered them.

The wax was a grey creamy color, it could almost match her pale skin if one saw her from a distance.

She walked towards them as though she could see, her measured footsteps pit pat-ing against the stone with her bare feet. She carried a long, slender staff, a flickering wisp of a flame at its crown, burning at the wick.

She marched right up to Shirou without a single word, and out of the four companions, the red headed teenager was the only one who didn't tense up in preparation for an attack.

She opened her mouth, and her voice emerged like the whisper of a spring wind, soft and utterly beautiful to any ears. The voice of an angel beneath the unkempt veneer.

"Excuse me."

She said it so simply that Shirou found himself stepping aside without a word.

"My thanks."

She stepped onto where he'd been standing next to the rising wall of the first stair and lifted her staff high, the flickering flame at the end of her staff lighting a candle. How she knew where the candle was, or moreso, when it was lit, neither Shirou nor the others knew.

She went around, lighting the unlit candles with methodical patience and graceful movements. Strangely, although perhaps not so strange considering the absurdity of the situation itself, no one felt like interrupting.

Finally, when she finished lighting the last candle, she brought her staff down and blew out the flickering flame, leaving its wick with the pleasant, acrid smell of the smoke.

She turned towards them, not really looking with the wax over her eyes before she walked towards Ostrava, her footsteps leaving a chime; like a musical note with every step she took on the rune and starlight floor.

She knelt before the prince, and Ostrava almost feared she knew his identity as she set aside her staff.

Then she took hold of his leg and he realized she was merely checking the wound.

"Thou hast been wounded." She said, feeling the warm, stickiness of blood and smelling its metallic odor in the air. She turned to 'look' at Shirou, Rin and Saber. "I will tend to him, thy three wanderers must go." She pointed, her finger going high. "The Monumental, awaits thee above."

"Who?" Shirou asked.

"The Monumental." She said simply. "He will explain thine arrival here, and what thou must accomplish in turn."

That immediately perked Rin and Shirou up, it was only Saber who brought up a voice of opposition.

"We will not just leave Sir Ostrava here." She said simply, looking to both teenagers. "We have no idea who she is."

The prince of Boletaria spoke up, then. "No. Go, My lady. I...I think I know what this place is. No harm will come to me here. I am sure of it."

The King of Knights hesitated but at the sudden relaxation of his tense shoulders, she knew that he was not just speaking for their sake. He genuinely believed he would be alright here.

She nodded.

"Very well."

It took them minutes to walk up the stairs, the steep walkway brought them high enough to blur the images of Ostrava and the woman into nearly unidentifiable splotches of color.

They reached the very top of the stairs that lined the central chamber, then entered a hallway turned sharply into yet more stairs

Rin breathed out a sentence at that point. "This guy must stay in shape."

They kept climbing.

Finally, they walked out into a mezzanine balcony, the solemn face of the massive statue staring at them. Directly above it, was another statue, a mirror image to the one below it, save for the fact that it held its sword up, as if thrusting it into the endless black above.

They looked around, and to their immediate, disquiet horror, they saw that lining the walkway of this mezanine were children.

Hundreds of children.

Dressed in white, they sat with their legs crossed, their shaved heads leaning forward, still as stone, petrified...

Dead.

"**Come closer wanderers."**

The voice was calm, bouncing off the walls of their minds and Shirou snapped his eyes up towards the statue that looked down where they stood with solemn eyes.

"Monumental?" He asked, looking to Rin and Saber for support. The first shrugged, the latter mimicking her.

"**That is, indeed the title I have been charged with."**

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Rin decided to take the initiative, stepping past the stoic Saber as she spoke. "The lady down there said you could help us. Tell us what's going on. How we ended up here."

"**It is true-" **He answered. **_"I may have the power to assist you and at the very least, some of the answers you seek. But first, this conversation would be much easier if you stopped speaking to that statue."_**

"Huh?"

The three must have looked like a bunch of bumbling idiots, swiveling their heads around this way and that way.

Saber was the one who saw the movement.

It was small, just a raising head, then she noticed the candle at his crossed feet. All the other candle sticks were off, every single one, except for his.

A boy of ten years in body, if not younger, stared back at them with wizened, weary eyes. The eyes of an old man, of an ancient and his voice echoed through their heads again. **__****"Here. I am here."** The three of them finally marched over, stepping closer until they surrounded him from three different angles, standing as far as they could get in the narrow walkway from his sitting form.

"_You're_the monumental?" Rin's tone of voice showed just what her first impression was of the small being infront of them.

"**Yes...I am." **He answered simply, with neither ire nor gloat. **_"Now then...where would you like me to begin?"_**

It was Rin who jumped at the question, her voice firing off before anyone else could even finish taking the breath for theirs. "How did we end up here?"

"**That was due in no small part to the powers the three of you utilized in your battle against the creature you know in your world as Berzerker...However-" **He added after a moment.** _"I am the Monumental...it is my responsibility to hold together the fabric of this reality. Your arrival is no less than a result of my weakness and the power of the Old One."_**

"Your fault- How?" Rin asked deigning to sit since it seemed as though this would be a long explanation, Shirou and Saber followed her lead quickly enough.

"**As I said; I am the Monumental. It is my responsibility, to hold together the fabric of this world. The reality that is Boletaria and its adjoining lands. But my strength, is taxed, stretched thin by the growing power of the Old One. And you slipped through the web, into this world when your powers warped the threads of space during your battle.**

"What's the Old One?" Shirou spoke up, wilting a bit under Rin's glare at his interruption.

"**A soul devouring demon." **The faux child answered. **_"The oldest text we hold, say it is a creature __that was created by God, to punish humanity for its abuse of the Soul Arts."_**

Shirou seemingly went to ask another question when Rin quickly placed her hand over his mouth, shutting him up so she could listen uninterrupted.

The Monumental continued unperturbed.

**"**_**Long ago; t**_******he**** Old one woke, and spread the colorless fog throughout the land. The living felt their essence leeched when the fog swept over them. Loosing their souls, drove them to loose their minds. The mad attacked and slew the sane, the strong grew corrupted, powerful and terrible. The Fog drew power from the souls it had consumed, creating Greater Demons of those strong of body but weak in will. And these Demons in turn became focal points that spread the fog further. It was a slow destruction upon our world that drove humanity to the brink of extinction. Then, we: The Monumentals, were able to lull the Old One to its slumber, the colorless fog receded once more, and all but the greatest demons slowly perished."**

Rin pulled her hand away from Shirou's mouth, taking a deep breath before she posed her question. "What exactly are these 'Soul Arts'?"

"**In your world, you know it simply, as magic. Though it is, in truth, fundamentally different. Your magic is the harnessing of internal and external forces, Od and Mana into Prana that you can channel through your body. For us, our magic is fueled by souls, be it the soul of humans or beasts or demons. The soul holds an inexhaustible power that we can use to harness the magic around us."**

"You manipulate the Soul's of people to utilize magic?" Saber's voice was quiet, with an edge of steel, Rin saw the loathing glare she was giving the boy in front of them. One that Shirou was close to matching. "That is disgusting."

"**It is the only way we knew how." **The ancient said, his head bowing as though weary. **_"We built so much. We did so much! The souls of our loved ones were carrying us every day to greater and greater heights, we built utopias, monuments, places of such beauty and wonder even your own kingdom of Camelot paled in comparison Arturia-" _**If he noticed the woman tensing, he seemed to ignore it rather well. **"Such things we created...such beautiful...wondrous things." **His voice was so sad it was almost palpable.

Deciding to get this conversation back on track, Rin once more took the initiative. "So what happened? You said you put him to sleep. What got him to wake up?"

The child seemed to pause, recovering itself from the paths of ancient memory"**To protect what was left of the world, we Monumentals forged, with what little power remained to us, the Archstones. Six in all, the Archstones tethered the world together. The First, we granted to the king of the small, but diligent land of Boletaria, the last kingdom of men that stood against the Demons in the time of ancients. **

**_The second we granted to the Dwarves in their mountain home of Stone-Fang, the ones who crafted for us weapons and arms to gird ourselves against the demons. The Third we granted to the Queen of the Ivory tower, who's libraries and knowledge of magic granted us the ritual to lull the Old One, to its slumber. The Fourth, we granted to the Giants, who led the final Charge against the demons with the men of Boletaria at their backs, and opened the way to the Old One for us. The fifth, a gift to the tempest shadowmen, who heralded the great storm that drowned scores of the demons a fortnight before the battle began. _**

**_And the sixth, a gift to the Shaman of the fallen tribes. The keeper of the refugees and ill-fortuned souls who lost their homes to the fog, and suffered the further tragedy, to have built their new homes, upon what would become the site of the final battle."_**

He paused, almost seeming to take a mental breath before continuing. **__****"The Soul arts were lost to mortals for thousands of years, and all we Monumentals held together the spells, and the fabric of our worlds. Then, twenty years ago, Allant, the twelfth of his name, King of Boletaria, rediscovered the soul arts.**

"**Then a plague took the kingdom. A miasma so virulent, in scant hours more than half of their populous was infected. By the time the disease had run its course, two thirds of their people remained. But the plague took with it the Queen, and four princes."**

"**The king, fell into madness."**

___'No shit.__' _Rin thought to herself, wisely choosing to keep quiet.

"**He sought a means to return them to his side, delving further into the Soul arts. We tried to dissuade him without truly interfering. We never could have believed...never would have even fathomed the lengths one mortal man could reach for. He sought out, and woke, the Old One."**

"And now you have all these problems." Rin remarked with a sigh, rubbing her temples.

"**Yes." **The boy seemed to nod.

"Still, I don't see the issue." She declared suddenly, crossing her arms. "You Monumentals put him asleep before, just do it again."

The Monumental stared at her then he turned his head left and right, to the line up of petrified corpses forever frozen in sleep, the candles at their feet snuffed out and the three of them instantly caught his meaning.

"**No more Monumentals remain. The Old One's awakening, drove our power to exhaustion. I am the last, and I do not have the strength."**

"Well..." She all but bit out the word. "That's...inconvenient..."

"**Quite..."**

After a few moments of tense silence Rin finally huffed.

"Well for what its worth, I'm sure I can speak for everyone when I say 'Sorry.' But lets get down to the deal here. 'How do we get back'?"

"Tohsaka that's-"

"The only thing that really matters to us." She cut Shirou off, returning his glare with her own. "We have a war to fight, in our own world! This isn't our problem. Like he said we weren't even supposed to be here. So the sooner we can _"Slip back through the web"_ the better."

"**She is right." **The Monumental interrupted their argument before it could escalate. **_"This is not a doom you need face. Nor would I want you to. I would gladly send you back to your world."_**

Rin felt a tingle of trepidation worm its way up her spine. "But-" She ventured.

"**But...I'm afraid I do not know how."**

* * *

Fillerish, truth be told, but now you readers unfamiliar to Demon Souls have some back story to go on. Some of it is my own interpretation mind you, not everything said here is Demon Souls cannon.

At any rate I hope you all enjoyed it. The update came at a bit faster rate than what I imagined even.

Also for those of you unfamiliar with the Demon Souls game as I mentioned previously the five "worlds" have three bosses each not including the last boss.

For easy reference, the Boss Shirou, Rin Saber and Ostrava faced in this chapter is known as the "Phalanx Demon"

If you want to look up an image.


	3. Chapter 3

"And what about this one?" Shirou found himself asking, stepping lightly around the shattered chunks of stone.

"The Archstone of the far North." The Maiden said, though her was covered eyes could not have possibly seen his gesturing. "The Giant's Archstone."

"Why was it destroyed?" Saber questioned, a little ways behind her.

"When the Old One woke, and the fog drew near, the children of the mountain were the first to be taken. The children of Boletaria, the Ivory Tower and the Stone marched in the hopes of combating the demons and halting them before they could encroach further. But the Old One is strong, and the young races have memories both quick and short. The armies of the kingdoms were defeated, and the Giants' corrupted. Desperate hope led the rulers to shatter the Archstone in a bid to halt the Fog. But to no avail, all lands near and far are under the threat of the fog."

Saber and Shirou fell silent after that, and the Maiden, sensing their mood let the subject drop. Not that she was known for being overly talkative anyway.

She walked down the stairs with light pitter-patter steps. Shirou and Saber walked after her but didn't follow, not really, they were just heading in the same direction.

Sure enough, at the foot of the stairs the Maiden in black veered off to the right, while they moved to the left. Stepping between two of the shrines massive support columns, Master and Servant found themselves in the presence of all the other Nexus inhabitants.

The man who called himself Stockpile Thomas was browsing through the small mountain of effects as per his "morning" ritual. Morning of course being whatever time he woke from his sleep. With nothing to discern the light of day in the Nexus, Shirou, Saber and Rin quickly learned that time tended to get funny in a place like this.

Meanwhile old Blacksmith Boldwin was laying down on a filthy cot that was little more than soot stained furs, snoring noisily. His forge was on the other side of the Nexus, where the stink of the fumes were well away from everyone else's sleeping space.

There were four others milling about that they hadn't met yet. These people had been asleep when the three of them arrived. Three of the four knelt in what must have been prayer in a corner. The other was passing an eye over a book. Though a blind man would have noticed that his eyes seemed more fixed on them than the tome in his hand.

Shirou and Saber gave them as wide a berth as they got in return, marching towards the space that Ostrava and Rin had settled themselves.

There wasn't anything very noteworthy about the space. Indeed, the only reason they used it was because it'd been free at the time and Ostrava was more than willing to collapse anywhere as long as it took the weight off his leg.

Currently, the Knight was running an oil cloth on his Runesword, carefully cleaning the blade of the muck, blood and grime that had gotten into its various little openings and thin canals.

He turned his eyes up at the sound of their footsteps, his dark eyes favoring them for a moment before he nodded.

They nodded in return, and Saber quickly averted her eyes from the man.

He bore such a striking resemblance to Galahad that the King of Knights found it was...disconcerting.

Slim, sharp features, blond hair, almost the same eyes too.

It brought up a lot of memories, most of which she would have preferred to leave in the past where they belonged.

Shirou sat down with saber following shortly after, and Rin turned around where she lay, facing them with baleful, bored eyes. "So..." The brunette groused.

"What?"

Rin shrugged at his question. "Its an open question Shirou, answer it with whatever you can. I could be asking, -How do we get out of here?- or -What's our next move?- or -How the weather's been?-. Let's not just sit here and stare at each other till we're blue in the face lets think of something!"

Now she was sitting up, crossing her arms infront of her chest. Her eyes were no longer bored. They were sharp and irritated.

"Tohsaka" He almost sighed in exasperation. "If I knew anything at all I'd be the first to talk, but I'm not a good magus, not even with the few things I do know. Trying to help you come up with a plan to get out of this is completely out of my league."

This time, Rin did sigh. "Well at least your smart enough to admit when you're stupid." She turned to Saber, leaving Shirou to wonder for a second whether he was just insulted, or praised. "Another thing that we need to try do do is _remember _what the hell happened to us."

"The last thing I remember...is Berserker grabbing you."

Rin winced, phantom pains running up her sides and ribs, recalling the horror of literally being crushed alive as she realized that lead skinned monster wasn't dead. "Yeah..."

"Then after that everything-it just goes blank for me." Shirou said with an apology in his eyes and a helpless shrug.

Rin sighed. "Same here. Whatever happened it definitely has to do with how we ended up here, if that wasn't obvious enough. So...if we ever do remember what happened we might be able to find a way back because of it." She shrugged, grasping at straws tended to suck. Looking to the servant, whom had remained quiet up until this point she decided to make her more active in the conversation.

"Saber, do you have any ideas?"

"Hmm." The King of Knights thought for a moment before she sighed. "This is not our world. We are wholly unfamiliar with the extent of their magical knowledge and any form of practice manipulating it. If we're to have any hope of getting back we need to find some way to contact someone in our world."

Rin nodded. "I see where your going with that, but even if we did, the magic to bring us back to our world would be beyond almost anyone's ability."

"Perhaps not." Saber said. "The fabric of this world is thin and weak. Its how we were able to slip through before in a way that seems entirely accidental."

"Good point. I still think one of, if not our best bet is to find a mage of this world. A strong one. Perhaps he or she can help."

The young man that had previously been reading a book near the far corner of the room, snapped the tome shut and stood, making his way over. The others were too wrapped up in conversation to truly notice.

"The Schola of Marath in the Boletarian Palace holds much knowledge." Ostrava put in. "Perhaps, should we ever find the means to reach it, and expel the demons, you can find the answers you seek there." He made a gesture with his sword, vaguely pointing in the general direction of the Archstones in the main chamber. "The Tower of Latria is hailed to be even greater in its conservation of ancient magical tomes and rituals. If it hasn't been destroyed then certainly-"

The Knight paused, looking towards the new arrival, and everyone's eyes swiveled up to face the intruder.

He was young, perhaps in his mid twenties, a sharp nose and the faint traces of a sneer on his lips, as though he were looking down at peasants.

"Hello. I overheard you're looking for a powerful mage?"

"That's right." Rin answered carefully.

"Then perhaps I can point you in the right direction. Have any of you heard of Sage Freke?"

* * *

Archer groaned, rolling onto his back his eyes fluttered open before he reached for a piece of furniture to help him stand up from the floor.

He stumbled once, and that was more from a momentary weakness than any real pain. He'd take it and call it a victory for now.

He walked out of the hall, through the living room and into the kitchen setting a kettle to boil water, the Servant focused his waking energies on making tea.

It didn't take him long to realize that his left arm was still largely...broken.

He could at least twitch his fingers now. So it wouldn't be long before his abilities as a servant set and knit the bones on their own in just a few short hours.

As he waited for the water to boil, he went about making himself a makeshift sling.

It was not a long wait. Soon enough Archer found himself sitting in the living room, a tea cup in one hand, the other hand, hanging comfortably off a wrap going around the back of his neck.

Archer sat there, drinking his tea, and thinking.

By the time he heard the door open, the Sun had risen from the east and was now high in the sky, filtering light through the entire room.

Most of the feeling was back in his arm too.

Her cherry red eyes turned this way and that way, wide and frightened, her hair was a mess, her clothes were wrinkled and she fixed her gaze on Archer's with far too much fear for the counter guardian's liking.

He didn't fault her for being afraid...not really. He had killed Berzerker six times, a feat too few other Servant's could contend with, if at all.

And she was now standing here, with him somehow still alive, and her Berzerker long gone.

She should be afraid of any servant right now.

Just not necessarily of him.

He set the tea cup on the tray. Wincing as his back spasmed with unexpected pain. The beating he'd endured would take time to heal.

Too long as far as he was concerned.

"Illya-" He began, only for her to interrupt.

"You! How are you alive! Berzerker killed you! I watched you die!"

"I didn't." He answered simply. Though, in truth, he didn't remember much after the world had gone dark. When he woke again he'd barely had the energy to bring himself to the top of the mansion where he'd seen the lead skinned giant holding Rin in one hand.

Just before that arm of his had been chopped off...

Illya bit her lip, hissing a breath through her teeth. "Where is Berzerker! What did-"She seemed almost ready to start crying in frustration, or desperation...probably both.

"I don't know." He said. "Nor do I know where my Master, the servant Saber or her useless master is either."

She sagged, her hands falling limply at her side as she stared at him. "But I can still feel the-"

"Yes." He interrupted. "So do I. Rin is still alive, from what you've said so is your Berzerker." He didn't want to even think what a problem *that* was going to be. "By all rights, so are Saber and the Emiya boy. You and I are all that's left for some reason though."

"But-but-but." She stuttered before finally regaining herself. Her fury mounted and she scratched at her scalp before exploding. "How did this happen!?"

It didn't take him long to answer; he'd been thinking about it all day. "Caladbolg."

"Huh?"

"When I woke up." He decided to explain. "I pulled myself to the top of the mansion. I saw the battle against Berzerker. I did what I could. I nearly killed myself for real by projecting that blade and firing it a second time."

"But how could any Noble Phantasm do something like this!"

"Not on its own." He clarified. Caladbolg could bend space, but never shatter it, never break through the fabric of dimensions which is what he suspected had occurred. "But when it hit, it must have met with something else."

And then he saw Illya pale, her own memory returning and Archer leaned forward. "You know something don't you?"

Illya bowed her head, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. Archer could see the quivering in her shoulders that told him she really was about to cry.

"It was that sword!" She shrieked. "It did this!"

Archer closed his eyes. Sighing through his nostrils.

The sword...Emiya...he knew what sword he traced.

Could Caladbolg and Caliburn really have done this?

His understanding of such things was limited...but he doubted it...

There was something else here. He was _sure _of it. There was something they were missing. An incomplete puzzle.

He opened his eyes, looking at the distressed Ilya. "It doesn't matter now." He said, as much to her as to himself. "All that matters is finding a way to get them back."

* * *

When Rin stepped onto the raised dais that housed the third Archstone she wasted little time placing her hands on the faintly glowing crystal in its center.

"Umm Tohsaka-" Shirou commented after a second or two. "Do you even know how this works?"

Begrudgingly, Rin realized that she, in fact, did not.

She'd been in such a rush to find this Magus, Sage Freke, that she just marched over to the designated Archstone without even bothering to ask someone just how one used them.

Luckily however, she was saved from the embarrassment by the dark haired candle keeper.

"Thou canst not exit the Nexus." Her somber voice drifted up towards the three of them, bringing their eyes down to where she stood on the Nexus' void like floor.

"What do you mean we can't leave." Rin asked, beginning to descend the stairs, Shirou and Saber went down the opposite flight.

The Candle maiden seemed to follow her movements without eyes, facing her directly as she stepped down from the steps that housed the Archstones before she, Saber and Shirou made their way closer.

"Thou canst not exit the Nexus." The maiden repeated. "Thou is not prepared."

Rin wasn't the only one who noticed the Maiden's "gaze" turn onto Shirou.

The Maiden in black took a step closer, still brandishing her candle staff. Tohsaka was sure Shirou was fighting the urge to take a step back in response to her proximity. He looked very nervous, truth be told.

"Thou canst not exit the nexus. Not until the spirits within thine form have been quelled and tamed; lest they once more grow in power at the touch of the fog and consume thee."

Shirou raised an eyebrow, looking to either Rin, or Saber for some help but both women seemed just as confused as he was.

"I don't kno-"

Her hand came forward, it wasn't fast, but it was abrupt, and Shirou barely had the time to give a startled, tense twitch of his shoulders before her hand was against his chest.

The world vanished in a blink. Walls of granite and steps of marble gone, replaced by endless, star glimmering black.

Shirou moved, looking around, searching for Rin, for Saber, but only the woman stood there. The woman in black with skin pale as the moon and wax over her eyes, dressed in rags.

She held out her hand to him. "Come." She said. "This one will teach thou what thou needst to learn."

Color crept through to the edges of his peripherals and Shirou turned around, facing away from her, finding a spreading light of bloody red on the horizon,. As though someone had cut the universe open with a blade and its bright red blood was slowly leaking out.

It was coming closer, nearly indistinct in form but growing sharper, more real. Shirou felt himself backing away until the Maiden's hand was on his back, holding him forward.

"Thine fears must be cast aside. Thine will must be strong."

"But...I don't understand." He answered, finding that it was the most true. And in reality, it was the only thing he could really say.

She stepped over to stand at his side, taking his left wrist as she held out his hand. "Come now, I'm here...thine fear is present but thine will is strong. Wait and you shall see."

The thing came closer, like a wave creeping its way up the slope of the beach. He could hear it, see it feel the moisture of the sand beneath his feet, but the water just hadn't reached him yet.

The first _touch_ was like the barest hints of a feeling along his fingertips, and Shirou still pulled his hand back as though it'd just been burned.

Or at least, he tried to, the maiden's grip was like iron, holding him firmly in place for the briefest moment.

Then he was back in the nexus, blinking his eyes back to sight, he saw Saber holding the candle Maiden's wrist, pulling it away from him while her sword was gripped firmly in her free hand again.

"What are you doing!" His servant demanded, glaring at the black haired woman.

But the maiden ignored her, keeping her attention on Shirou. "Thou sees it now yes? The power within thine form. It rests for a time. But to enter the fog will rouse it from its slumber."

"What are you-"

"Saber." He found himself interrupting her. Meeting her shocked green eyes with his own. "Let her go. I-" He hesitated watching the maiden return her freed hand to the staf she held, a mark forming where Saber had grabbed her. "I...she's right."

"What do you mean she's right?" Rin asked, one closed fist in front of her mouth as she eyed him carefully.

"I saw...I saw something-"

"The soul of the vanquished demon." The maiden interrupted, clarifying. "The moment it was slain, its essence entered thine form, and now rests dormant. This is how the soul of the demon survives, how the demon is reborn again. The mighty who slew it will simply become it when the soul regains its former power."

Though now, all three of them looked uneasy, the candle maiden continued on, either oblivious due to her lack of sight, or heedless despite her knowledge. "This one will teach you to make the demons power your own. How to harness it until its soul and might are yours to do with as you wish."

"But-But I don't want it!" Shirou finally said, aghast, realizing just what was crawling beneath his skin.

"Thou is not the first to say such. But what thou wisheth is immaterial, the Demon's power cannot be taken from you save through death. The only other means are beyond you."

"What are the other means!?" He demanded, more aggressively than he perhaps intended.

"Long ago, the ancient smiths wielded power. Power enough to harness the strength of the demons and imbue them within weapons of powerful, legendary make. The art has been lost since long before the fog returned."

Shirou deflated, his shoulders sagging. "There must be some way-"

"Perhaps thou shall find it." the maiden answered extending her pale hand, which Shirou now noticed the mark of a quickly forming bruise on the pale skin of her wrist. "But until that time, this one will teach, and thou shall learn."

Shirou hesitated, staring at her hand for a long while as though it was the only thing in the world.

Then Rin stepped up, nearly placing herself between the confused red head and the black haired woman.

"What exactly is it that you're going to teach him?" She asked. "And how long will it take."

"This one will teach him how to make the power of the Soul, his own, how to take away the strength of the demon, so that only its raw essence remains, powerless and subdued within. So that the body becomes its prison, rather than its vessel. So that its power becomes the chains that bind it, rather than the fire that purges away all that surrounds it."

"And how long?" The magus asked again.

"Such a question can only be answered by him." The maiden answered. "But-" She hesitated. "It is an infant demon soul, a fledgeling of what it could be. This one does not believe it will take very long."

"We need to find that Magus, Freke, we can't risk waiting for Shirou to deal with this." As an afterthought she turned to look at the dazed boy. "No offense."

"None taken...I think."

"Then thine may pass through the Archstone in search of thine quarry. Thou-" She 'looked' to Shirou. "Will remain, and learn." She paused, as though weighing her next words. "I...I cannot stop thee if thou truly wisheth to go. But to heed mine warnings would be prudent of thee."

"Shirou will not stay." Saber finally spoke up.

"If she says he has to-" Rin began.

"Then we wait!" Saber cut her off. She looked to Shirou. "You are my Master, and I will not simply leave you here alone and unprotected."

"But Saber...if this Sage Freke can help us then-"

"Then we can't run the risk of him dying while we wait." Rin finished, looking to the blond. "I know you're Shirou's servant, and your job first and foremost is to protect him. But if we don't find a way out of here, we're all dead anyway. And I can't just go off on my own to look for this guy."

Saber looked like she was trying to work a bad taste out of her mouth, her lips curling a bit.

"Saber." Shirou placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling just the smallest bit at his servant, though it served little to hide his own anxiety over the situation. "Its alright...I'll be fine here. If worse comes to worse. I can always find Ostrava for help."

Still not looking satisfied with the idea Saber turned her eyes away from the lot of them.

Rin took it as a victory for the time being. Looking to Shirou she sighed. "Alright. I guess we'll be back for you later then." She threw a glance to the Candle Maiden then looked to Shirou with one of her more evil smiles. "Don't go exchanging any Prana while we're gone now."

It took the youth half a second to realize what she was implying. The blush on his face made Rin choke on her laughter, and Saber's head whipped back to face them so quick anyone could have attested to hearing her neck crack.

Still laughing, Rin grabbed onto Saber's hand and pulled her away, marching up the stairs with a fit of giggles before both women reached the archstone and vanished in a burst of green mist.

Shirou stared at the spot the two of them had previously occupied before he felt the maiden's hand on his shoulder.

"Come now." She said, and began to walk off to another part of the Temple. With another look towards where Rin and Saber vanished Shirou turned and followed.

* * *

Alright, chapter 3, a little short, but now we're getting somewhere, the next chapter will be twice as long at least by my estimates so it'll take a bit.

The first 7 to 10 chapters are really going to focus on getting the "universe" moving, like I mentioned in chapter 1, after that, there will be a lot of character development/progression. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it for now.


	4. Chapter 4

The stink was the first thing to hit her.

The putrid, pungent smell of rotting flesh, noxious, bodily gasses and maggot filled corpses.

Rin gagged when her body took form again, the shards becoming whole. Saber merely grimaced.

By the time the brunette had managed to regain control of her roiling stomach she nearly lost it again with a quick perusal of her surroundings.

The walls were slick with filth and grime. Blood stains were dry and cracking along its surface, vomit and much more were on the floor of the cell with the bones of whatever occupants had lived here scattered across the space.

She looked to the door, and didn't even bother looking round the corners before stumbling out, landing heavily on the railings of the walkway beyond.

Her chest heaved as she tried to suck in mouthfuls of air.

She heard Saber's footsteps behind her a moment before she felt the Servant's hand on her back patting it with what must have been a comically tight look on her face.

Was it weird that imagining Saber's constipated face at helping her was enough to make her smile?

Maybe.

Finally she straightened sighing slowly. "Sorry. I'm alright now."

"It's alright." Saber said, pulling her hand away. "It is...a gruesome scene."

Rin mustered her courage and swiveled her head around to face the cell where the Archstone had decided to plant itself. Then she looked around to the rest of this place.

"A prison..." she commented. "We're in a prison. Think that monumental guy's trying to tell us something?"

If Saber was in any way inclined to find some humor in her half joke she didn't show it. She seemed perfectly content to keep her eyes narrowed at some point in the distance.

Rin followed her gaze but saw nothing particularly interesting. She was gonna open her mouth to ask what was wrong when she heard whatever it was that had caught Saber's attention.

A bell, soft and tinkling, it would be called beautiful anywhere else. Here...in these walls...it was just plain old eerie.

It came again and again, soft and melancholy.

After ten seconds or so of this Rin decided she'd had enough.

"Come on. Lets go find that Sage Freke."

* * *

The world bled away, falling like the individual splinters of shattered glass. Life ebbed, feeling flowed, nothing existed anymore save for starlight and the glimmer of silver glass.

Shirou opened his eyes with a gasp, once more finding himself standing in this vast expanse, beyond the nexus, beyond the reach of all worlds.

The maiden stood infront of him, silent and somber, she held out her hand and hesitating, Shirou took it.

The demon crept back to the edges of his sight. Again, climbing up the banks of the shore like hesitant waves.

She held his hand tightly as she pulled it out to brush against the creature.

And once again, he felt his hands burning at the touch, like a heat lamp coming much closer than what was comfortable.

She let his hand go, stepping away and Shirou wasn't entirely sure if he was the one keeping his hand in place after that.

"The demon's soul resides within thee, as a stone resides within water, resting at the bottom of a lake. It is up to thine own will to turn stone to salt, and make the demon as part of thee, changing thine-self as much as thine changes the demon."

He didn't like the sound of that last part...he didn't want to...change, with these things.

Still...if this was the only way...

"How do I do it?" He asked.

"The soul of the demon resonates within thine own. It seeks out one most similar to it in any respect. Just as thou has yet to reach thine full potential and power, so has this demon. This is why it sought thee out at the moment of its physical vessel's destruction."

"That doesn't tell me how to control it." He said, daring a glance at her.

She stepped forward, her hand extending towards the demon's aurora still hovering quietly a stone's throw away.

"Come now." She said. "Be good."

Like a wary animal, the demon's soul was slow to respond, inching closer hesitantly at first, but growing bolder at the maiden's patience.

Shirou felt his entire arm now beginning to burn, and he knew that it wasn't his will that was keeping him in place now.

The maiden's finger's seemed to brush over the ethereal manifestation, fingers dancing over it as though she were caressing a pet.

"Thine must accept what makes thee similar. What thou share with the demon. Use it as one would use the latchkey of a doorway to gain influence over its strength. Thine will must be stronger than its. Tis good that your first demon is one so young. The greater the Demon, the stronger the will.

"So..." He began, hesitating. "That's it? Just focus on what makes us similar? That none of us are as strong as we could be."

She nodded. "Indeed. Focus on thine flaws, on the demon's, and then focus on a way to correct those flaws. For this demon soul, that will be your first step. The rest will come naturally to you. I promise."

"What will happen to me? When this is done I mean."

"It is different for all. Some would gain the strength of ten men, others, are granted the knowledge of great scholars, secrets the demon kept, for others their magics become as strong as the sages of old. Their senses sharper, their minds quicker. Men have been known to wether injury that would slay other twice their size. It depends on the demon itself, and the person taming it."

* * *

They slowly made their way through the hallways. And with every step their disgust only grew.

Inside of every cell, crammed into a space barely adequate to fit two people, prisoners were stuffed in by the dozens. Hands emerged from between the bars, pawing at them. Some begged for death, others were wild and feral, gnashing their teeth and swiping at them with bits of broken glass that did more damage to their own hands than they ever would to an armored opponent.

They were skeletal thin, as grotesque as the dregs she and Shirou had seen in that Boletaria place.

They passed another cell, and Rin's eyes darted inward to see one prisoner huddled up against the far wall...next to a pile of his fellow inmates decomposing corpses.

"Enough..." She heard Saber mutter behind her and spun around in time to see the servant prepare her sword, ready to slash open the lock.

Rin agreed with her. Really, she did. She wanted to do nothing more than free these people from this pit of a prison. She'd been here for five minutes and wanted nothing more than to burn these clothes, take a long bath and just try to wash away the mere _memory_ of this place. She could only imagine the nightmare it was to actually have to suffer it.

But just as one part of her agreed. That was the sentimental part. And for Rin, sentimentality would always be the back seat driver to practicality.

She grabbed onto Sabers wrist before she could swing. "Stop!"

The servant's glare was downright scathing. "They need to be freed. This is-"

"Something we can do later!" She argued. "After we find Sage Freke, and secure him. If you go releasing all these prisoners all you'll manage to do is start a riot, or just so much chaos that whoever is in charge of this prison, if there even is someone in charge, will bring in whatever troops he has to regain order."

The Servant still didn't look pleased.

"First the sage, Saber. Then I promise I'll help you break every lock and key in this place myself."

Mollified, the servant slowly nodded. It seemed like a bigger pill than when she had to leave Shirou in the nexus.

The two went to walk off when the prisoner's gnarled, bony fingers wrapped around the bars of his cell.

"The...sage." He croaked, his voice cracking, dry and brittle. He wheezed out the words as though there were razors in his throat.

The two women looked as the man's skin and bone hand extended, trembling as it pointed to a hallway on the other side of the open mezzanine balcony. "That way..."

Rin followed the direction, mouth set in a firm line.

"Please...hurry." She looked back to the prisoner who had already turned, walking back to sit next to the pile of his dead fellows.

* * *

He took a breath, jerking as though he'd just been startled awake.

They were back in the nexus.

The maiden in black was standing up.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Thine mind is weary." She said. "Thou hast made progress, but more remains. For now, find succor with the others. I will return when I feel thou art well enough to continue."

"But I feel fine." He protested.

"The demon is young;" She answered. "Not foolish. It bides its power as of yet. To allow thee to continue would be to thine ultimate doom."

And with that, she turned and walked away.

Shirou watched her leave blankly for several seconds before he stood up, wincing due to his stiff knees, and then began walking towards the common area where the other residents of the Nexus made their impromptu home.

The first thing that caught his eye the moment he entered was Stockpile Thomas settling a large cooking pot over a magic fueled fire, that he assumed was being created and maintained by Freke's apprentice sitting just a few feet away.

Drawn instantly to the fact that they were _cooking_ and the fact that he now realized he was _starving_ he made his way closer.

Thomas turned to face him, curious at first, then smiling when he realized it was him. Freke's apprentice barely spared him a glance.

"Hello. Shirou was it?" Thomas asked. "We just started on the stew. It'll take some time yet."

Shirou took a peek into the cooking pot, beef and a few vegetables peeked out from the now oil colored water.

"Where'd you all get the ingredients?" He asked.

Thomas pointed to a small chest tucked into the corner of the side chamber. "The monumental provides for us here. That chest gives us whatever food we require."

Shirou looked at the chest, a strange gleam in his eye. "Are you telling me that chest gives you any food you might want?"

Thomas looked at the youth somewhat strangely eying the box and at the indiscernible look in Shirou's eye. "Well...yes. The maiden granted it to us when we ariv-"

Shirou pushed past him, marching over towards the chest with renewed purpose, opening it and reaching in. He straightened with his hands full of more ingredients.

Turning around, he all but pushed Thomas out of the way and began cutting up a full chef's kitchen and throwing it in the pot.

Thomas eyed him, stunned. Stunned enough to not even react when Shirou pulled the wooden spoon right out of his hand without even looking away from the now bubbling stew.

* * *

"There!" Rin pointed, somewhat hopeful as she saw one particular cell door glowing bright with magic.

Saber noticed it immediately, nodding before something caught her ear.

Rin went to move forward and Saber caught her wrist, stopping her.

"Wait." The King of Knight's said. "Did you hear that?"

Rin paused and the sound of that bell tinkled across their ears. It was much closer.

Rin and Saber looked around, as the chime echoed through the stone halls, coming from every direction.

When they finally heard the shuffling of feet, they were able to hone in on the source.

A strange, eerie little glow was emanating from the bars of a cell to their left, shifting this way and that way, as though being held up by something moving.

"Get behind me." Saber said, moving forward, her blade held at the ready as Rin mentally tallied the spells that could be useful in these confined spaces.

The thing that walked out of that cell was almost as grotesque as the dregs that wandered across Boletaria's castle. Its robes were moth eaten, dingy, the skin of its hands were dotted with boils and actually seemed cracked, like a reptiles dried scales.

But its head was the worst. It looked like an octopus. Spindly whip like tentacles whipping this way and that way, jutting out of its cheeks and neck. Its head was bulbous and deformed, with two beady eyes staring at her above the frame of a hooked beak that must have been its mouth.

The thing eyed them for half a breath before it raised its tinkling bell.

Green lightning crossed the distance between them in an instant and Rin winced instinctively as her skin was prickled in the discharge and her eyes were stung with the sudden brightness.

But just as quickly as it came, it went, vanishing against Saber's magical resistance like her wind spell had been the first time they met and as Rin blinked to try and regain her sight she heard a strange, gurgling screech followed by a thud.

When she finally blinked the black spots out of her eyes, she saw Saber standing above the dead thing, black blood gushed out of its carved throat to pool at the Servant's feet.

The magus stepped forward, looking at the thing sprawled on the floor, its tinkling bell rolling on the broken stonework at its side.

Rin looked at the deathblow, still flowing with hot blood. She rubbed her own throat in some strange instinct. "I kinda got this feeling the Fog was bad but...I think that Monumental kid and the candle girl were understating things a bit."

Saber nodded. "This...creature's magic was fairly strong."

Rin risked a glance the servant's way. "Anything that could threaten you?"

Saber shook her head. "No. But its magic is stronger than yours when not using your crystals."

That didn't please her, pursing her lips a bit, she stepped over the body and began making her way around the balcony to get to the glowing cell.

The floor was out, an entire six yards of floor just missing. Rin sighed with aggravation. Looking to Saber before stepping out of the way.

The servant took one look at the hole before turning her eyes back to Rin, who raised her arms in a languid, shrug like gesture.

Wrapping one arm around Rin's waist Saber jumped, and just like that, they were on the other side.

Rin dusted herself off as Saber released her. "Thanks." She said before they moved over to the cell that was just a few feet away.

Stepping closer to the glowing barrier Rin and Saber squinted through the glare of the light to peer into the cell.

If this was sage Freke, Rin felt slightly underwhelmed. He was curled up on his cot, dressed in a tattered brown robe that looked like it'd just been pulled out of some rat infested closet and thrown over his shoulders. His hair was thin and brittle, long stringy bits hung from his scalp in what she would _loosely_ describe as a ponytail.

"Hey!" She called, watching him stir, thank goodness the barrier didn't block out sound. "Wake up."

"Hrn." Freke grunted blinking dazedly up at the walls of his cell before turning his eyes to them.

With slow, ponderous movements he straightened, reaching his feet carefully, the Sage threw up his hood and made his way closer to the barrier.

"Are you sage Freke?" Rin asked deciding to get to the point.

The old man seemed to look them over, his lips held in a flat, thin line. The silence stretched on between them for a good ten seconds, and both Rin and Saber were ready to either walk away or speak again before he finally cleared his throat.

"Well you seem sane. That's a start I suppose."

"Took you that long to figure it out? And here I thought you were smart." Rin bit back.

"The Demons take many forms young lady. Not all of them repulsive." He countered before clearly turning his attention to Saber. "And what of you? Awfully quiet."

Saber shrugged. "What would you have me say?"

"Hmm. Quite true, to hear someone speak is worthless, to listen is priceless. To answer your earlier question, yes; I am Freke."

"Alright." Rin nodded. "Now lets get down to business. How do we get you out of here."

"While I appreciate the sentiment of my release, what exactly do you hope to gain by assisting me?" The mage asked.

Rin raised an eyebrow before making something of a show at looking around. "You really want to get into that here?"

Freke hummed to himself. "No, I suppose not. Very well. You might back away from your offer when you hear the conditions to my release though." He cleared his throat. "Bars cannot hold me, the barrier here is the true obstacle of course. It is powered by one of the demons of this place."

Rin scoffed, muttering under her breath. "Should have figured."

"The demon makes her home in the cathedral to the Saint, Astraea. You must descend to the ground floor of this abominable place, and cross the bridge. Do not be fooled by the statue. Its beautifying veneer is merely to disguise the deadly mechanism within."

"Be a bit more specific." Rin deadpanned. "For all I know that could be anything from the statue blowing up to it deciding to start moving and dancing to moonlight sonata."

If he was confused by her wording he didn't show it. "It will fire hundreds of quarrels. Its mechanisms allow it to loose dozens at a time. A thousand men can be cut down before they're even half way across.

"That's better." Rin said before looking to Saber. "Think you can handle it?"

The servant nodded. "It shouldn't be much trouble."

Freke ignored their exchange. "Once you've crossed the bridge, enter the cathedral and slay the demon."

"Any tips on how to beat it?" Rin asked.

Freke shook his head. "I did not face this demon. I used my magic to slip past both it and the others to face the yellow robed monstrosity at the top of the tower." Beneath his hood, Rin could see the man glowering with anger. "It was that..._thing_ that beat me. But I can tell you one thing I've learned. Something that would advise great caution.

"What's that?"

"The magic this demon wields is strong...possibly the strongest in all the Kingdoms. It feeds on this place you see? It is a false idol, and its worship is the suffering of the prisoners here. The greater their misery, the greater her power."

Rin looked around the prison, rusted bars, dark, dreary halls, its residents half starved, mad, clawing at themselves and rabid.

If she could say one thing...its that this place was definitely made for people to suffer.

"That's..." She failed at thinking of an adequate word. "Troubling." She looked to Saber. "Do you think your magical defenses can hold out?" Normally, the question would be ludicrous. Even caster servants, arguably among the most powerful magus in existence would easilly wither beneath the assault of a Saber Class.

But in this world...who knew exactly how limited this "soul magic" was.

Green eyes swiveled towards her. "We'll find out shortly won't we."

Rin shrugged. "Good enough I guess. Come on."

Freke watched them go, the Barrier's bright light beginning to prove annoying to his eyes as he turned away and sat down in a meditative position. If he was going to escape soon, he needed to prepare.

* * *

Once more, the world fell away, crumbling back into the sea of consciousness.

He faced the demon once more. Standing directly infront of its presence with squared shoulders Shirou felt heat wash over him, uncomfortable at first and quickly getting worse.

_'Thou must take hold of the Demon's spirit. Seize its will, and subjugate it with the power of thine own.'_

He heard the maiden's voice in his head. He could swear he felt her hand on his shoulder, but he knew she was not there, and suddenly he didn't dare turn his eyes away from the red haze infront of him as it encroached closer to him in this world.

_'Gather thine strength._' She whispered. _'Thou can overcome this.'_

He reached out, fire melted his fingernails and burnt his skin. His bones were scorched and blackened before his eyes

He struggled, pushing against this thing with everything he had, in every way he knew, and some ways that he didn't.

The pain grew. His flesh was cooking, his blood boiling as his skin was burned off his bones.

His thoughts fumbled, his mind flailing in all directions like a drowning man flails at the water surrounding him.

He was accomplishing nothing, he could feel this thing _coiling_ around him.

Where was the woman in black?

He tried to listen, tried to feel her presence, but the Demon engulfed him, swallowing him, ceasing all sensation and contact. The tether snapped and he was cast adrift.

Pain speared through his skull. As though someone had driven an iron spike through his eyeball, lodging it into his brain as every thought came to an immediate and abrupt stop.

The world screeched, and black thoughts, primal and mad carved into him like the snaking roots of some great tree boring its way through concrete.

Then, as though a hand plunged itself into the ice cold depths to pull him free, Shirou felt something grip him, and immediately, the world of fire faded, his skin was healthy and the touch of the demon was drawn away.

He opened his eyes, gasping as he saw the ghostly white form of a familiar knight.

Once more he heard the maiden's voice as strength ebbed its way back into his limbs.

Shirou could almost swear there was relief in her voice as the knight's grip eased away and his ethereal body faded to nothing as the demon reeled.

He felt the Maiden's hand on his own, felt her dictating his actions, felt her assuming control from his relinquished hold.

_'Let me guide thee.'_

* * *

The statue was big.

It was completely ridiculous...Rin was sure she'd seen elephants with less mass.

But yea...it was really big and overall...very ugly.

Still when the thing opened up and began launching two dozen or more crossbow quarrels through the length of the bridge, she could see just why it was so big.

It was giving Big Ben a run for its money on the moving gears contest.

Justified as its size may have been, it didn't really change the fact that it was still one of the ugliest statues she'd ever seen.

Taking a small stone, she threw it onto the bridge.

And like clockwork the mechanism fired again, going right for the spot that the stone had struck.

"Whatever magic they have on there its definitely sensitive, if a bit primitive." She commented, putting her hand up to her lips in thought. Turning her gaze to Saber for half a second she smiled "Well?"

Saber took that as her cue, sighing over-dramatically the blond spoke with a small smile, and Rin had to blink at the fact that Saber was actually _joking_ when she said "If I must."

Then she rushed across the bridge, her fleet steps carrying her swiftly, too fast for the primitive tracking mechanism of the statue to follow. Then, with a screech of protesting metal and cracking wood, the thing was cut in two.

The top half fell to the ground with a great crash, kicking up lots of dust and rocks.

Just to be safe, Rin threw another rock. When little more than the protesting whirring of gears answered her, she made her way across the bridge.

By the time she got there. The dust _still _hadn't settled. She coughed and wiped at the air. Squinting through the grit.

Walking around the debris and onto the other side, the brunette, looked at Saber. The blond looked as pristine as ever, not a speck of dust on her. Rin turned her eyes to a very large, very noticeable lever right behind the statue.

Walking over to it, Rin pulled it down, immediately hearing more grinding gears as the thing shut down.

"Could we avoid the mess next time?" She asked blinking tears as the dust got into one of her eyes.

Saber smirked, only slightly apologetically.

Making their way up the stairs the two women quietly approached the massive walls of the Cathedral

As they approached, the doors to the cathedral opened, and Rin was greeted once again with the unmistakeable sight of _the fog_

It wasn't a pleasant experience the first time, she doubted it would be much changed this time.

Saber pushed a little ahead of her. "I'll go in first this time." The servant said, "Stay behind me Tohsaka-san."

Rin nodded, it was for the best really. If the demon came out hurdling six foot long spears again, better that they meet Saber and her sword rather than her and her not so armored red jacket.

The blond servant made her way closer, her hand coming up and gently pushing at the fog as though it was a heavy drape. Rin followed.

And found herself frowning.

When She, Shirou and Ostrava had entered the first Fog curtain to face that slug thing, it had felt like bile rising up in their throats, their entire bodies lurching and heaving as though _everything_ in them wanted to throw up, now though...now it was like she was walking into a stale room.

Her mouth went dry to an uncomfortable degree. Her fingers ached, a strange sensation was on her scalp and hair, as though it was all..._brittle. _Like all her hair had, or was about to just fall off.

For half a heartbeat she felt herself crumbling like a page, so old and so worn that it merely crumbles to dust at the slightest touch.

Then she fully stepped through, and Rin found herself facing Sabers firm back while the Servant peered out to the expansive cathedral before them.

There were a dozen of the...prisoners...just as sickly thin, just as horrible. The rims around their eyes were crusty and yellow, or puffy and red. Welts and scabs adorned their exposed flesh, some wounds still seeping blood. All had their back to them and were praying in some shape or form towards the front of the chapel where the altar lay.

Slowly, the two women stepped into the room.

The sick humans paid them no heed, even when Rin called to them.

Their teeth were broken or rotted black, their skin hung off of their bones...but all they did was sit their and continue to pray to the altar, sitting down at their benches and just balefully moaning while bowing their heads.

"Rin."

Saber made her look forward again, away from the too thin, too sick people around them as...something floated down from the ceiling of the Cathedral.

It seemed like a woman, impossibly tall, she made Rin think of some kind of strange cross between a Goth style girl and some macabre Kabuki doll. Its robes, like so many others she'd seen were worn and eaten away at the edges. It also seemed small on her, the billowing sleeves, reaching only to her elbows and the long skirt dress that would have reached well past Rin's ankles only got to this things knees.

Her skin was pale, and Rin was certain after a moment that it wasn't even skin. All she had to decide on now was whether it was porcelain, plastic, or very well painted wood.

Another thing that drew her eye was the tome this thing held. It was huge, like one of those ceremonial Catholic bibles that would give someone a hernia just by _contemplating_ lifting it.

The most peculiar thing of all though was the fact that the thing had four arms.

It eyed them with a look that was completely devoid of any emotion. A larger than life doll, blankly staring at them from across the room.

Saber took hold of her blade and Rin stepped back, determined to get a look at whatever happened.

The thing might not exactly be moving now, but she doubted Saber would beat it on her first try.

Things never worked out like that.

The servant charged, straight down the center aisle between the Cathedral's seats with a battlecry.

The four armed demon didn't move, glancing away from the approaching Saber, she turned her eyes towards the tome in her hand as she flipped the page.

Saber's swing was fast, and with a sound akin to a shattering ceramic the doll Demon was cut neatly in two.

Rin held her breath

_'No way. Its never this simple.'_

She was right.

She wasn't sure if she should be happy or dismayed at that fact.

With a flash of greenish light the doll disappeared from where she was and reappeared again...in two different spots.

Saber turned, her back to the altar, her eyes widening in brief surprise as she faced down not one, but two identical looking demon creatures.

Raising one delicately fingered hand each, the creatures fired.

Its magic was a cold, ice blue, covering the distance between them and Saber before Rin could even finish blinking.

With a gust like a small cyclone the magic dispersed, coming into contact with Saber's innate magical defense, the swordswoman lunged at the nearest doll creature.

Her sword cut through the thing like smoke, the illusion disappearing as Saber attacked the remaining projection.

Again, with a sound of shattering ceramic the Demon burst apart, and again with a flash of green tinged light, it vanished and reappeared again.

This time there were three of them.

Rin cursed, and saw this time, the demon and its illusions raised two of its four hands.

Two of the blasts broke against Saber's magical defense, the third, didn't.

With an unerringly fast side step the Servant skirted away at the last moment, the blast of magical energy grazing her shoulder pauldron.

It kept going, disintegrating wood and stone in its path, along with one mindless worshiper that had been kneeling in its way before breaking against a stone pillar, bursting apart a whole chunk of the stonework.

Rin narrowed her eyes. Saber's magical resistance must have weakened that attack considerably, nothing short of an A+ magic could break through the defense, and an A+ magic would never have just stopped after hitting some half rotted chairs, a man skinny enough to pass as a stick figure and a chunk of cut up rock.

Again, in a second, Saber turned, cutting down the phantoms before rounding again to face the real demon itself, holding her sword at the ready.

"Don't kill her!" Rin shouted. "Not until we can figure out what to do here. Otherwise she's just gonna keep on multiplying herself."

Then, as if to mock her, the creature turned a page in her tome, seemed to read it, and two shadows emerged at both her flanks, making a grand total of five creatures to stare down her and Saber.

"Oh hell." Rin groaned.

Things were _never_ that simple...

* * *

The barrier flickered. It made him raise an eyebrow. But quickly, it reasserted itself.

Then, a minute, perhaps two passed, and it flickered once more, fading in and out like a guttering candle at the end of its wick. Freke took a step forward as its strength returned once more

The sage thrust his hand forward when the Barrier flickered the third time, magic grappled with magic as he struggled to tear the weakened barrier wide open.

* * *

Rin didn't scream.

The pain was so quick and so blinding she had to wonder for half a second just what had hit her as she'd been charging up another spell.

She imagined its what an arrow would have felt like maybe. It was quick, and sharp, like someone pricked her with a thumbtack or something.

Most odd thing about the whole sensation was how cold her shoulder felt now.

The feeling of vertigo was also a little odd. At least until she fell flat onto her back. That explained it.

"Rin!" She heard Saber shout in concern.

She was going to assure the blond servant that she was alright. It didn't hurt as much now, though, morbidly she realized that only three of her fingers were moving properly at the moment.

Then the Demon doll thing teleported above her, floating listlessly there. Staring at her with flat, lifeless eyes.

Rin decided to change her mind on telling Saber she was fine.

"Saber!"

Just in time, Arturia Pendragon vaulted over the cathedral chairs shouting with a swing of her sword that smashed the demon's head from its shoulders with a sound of shattering ceramics.

_The real one._ Rin realized as Saber landed next to her.

Then Rin realized something near the ceiling was glowing.

It was a quick glow, a pulse. Bright yellow.

Rin moved behind the column and picked herself up using the stone pillar to support herself.

"I think I found something." She said hissing as pain lanced up her arm. Ok_ now _it was starting to hurt.

Saber, still holding her blade at the ready and facing down lord knew how many doll demon copies spoke quickly.

"What?"

"I think may have found whatever might be keeping this thing alive. I need to get to the top floor." She looked around, dark hair whipping about her face as Saber jumped away, just seconds before multiple beams of light swallowed up the place she'd been standing on, shattering wood and stonework and ripping clean through the wall of the cathedral. The hole was wide and glaring before the fog swallowed it up again, blocking them from the outside world.

"Go then!" Saber shouted, rushing forward into the fray.

Rin ran for the nearest door, hoping it wasn't a storage closet or something.

* * *

Saber strained her body, twisting it awkwardly as she stabbed with her sword and leaned back as far as possible to avoid the magical blast that skirted past her face.

The thing at the end of her sword vanished in wisps of oily shadow as Saber righted herself again.

She could trust her magical defense to take almost everything the shadow versions of this demon could throw at her. At least so far. If she had to classify their power, even with two hands it would be at a solid B rank perhaps. But the original, using both hand's at least, was casting an A+ attack.

Add to that the fact that this demon was periodically teleporting and switching herself with her copies, and that they all looked exactly alike, and that A+ attack could come from anywhere.

Why the thing was only using both hands instead of three or all four, was anyone's guess if her power could take such an extreme leap with the added use of a limb. But Saber would not bemoan at least that much good fortune.

It was bad enough she had to face down one caster that could tear through her magic defenses, if all of her shadows started to use their extra limbs this fight would be...much more difficult...to say the least.

Regardless, as it was staying still was suicide, so Saber kept moving. She rushed from one end of the Cathedral hall to the other, her blade fluidly and quickly cutting through the shadow illusions as she moved from one enemy to the next, feeling the fine hairs on the back of her neck tingle with every blast of magic that came too close for comfort, strong or not.

* * *

Rin ran up the stairs. Feeling light headed and pained. Her shoulder was hurting more and more with every passing second, and she was now dripping blood from her fingertips.

If it wasn't for the sounds of Saber's fight down below constantly reminding her of the danger she would have actually stopped to admire the injury and the resulting blood itself. She wasn't overly squeamish so a somewhat non-serious injury-at least she really really hoped it was not serious- kind of had its own allure, at least for her to see and poke at. And they always made a decent story to tell later.

Not that she was planning on doing this again...it was really really _really_ starting to hurt now. Those three moving fingers might as well be useless, her just twitching the muscles down there was enough to send so much pain through her that it would bring up a whole bout of nausea.

Maybe she should have studied some more healing magic.

Her foot snagged on one of the stairs, she tripped, and her whole body screamed at her all at once as both arms reflexively moved to find some kind of purchase.

"Shhii-" She bit her lip, gritting her teeth as she stood up again and continued pushing herself up the flight of stairs.

When she saw the door she almost sighed with relief.

With a quick spell muttered under her lips, the lock was blown open, the entire thing blasting apart with a shriek of tearing metal and the cracking of wood.

She shoved it open with her good shoulder, finding herself on a blacony overlook where she could see Saber still battling with the demon and all of her copies, there were a dozen of them down there. She could only hope that this was a new batch rather than a wave Saber had been killing already.

Just how many could the Demon make?

Pushing that thought aside, Rin looked left and right, easily, and quickly finding her target.

The dregling was just as bad as the rest of the prisoners. Malnourished, skeletal thin, hunched. The only difference between him and them was that he was clutching a brightly glowing doll to his chest.

_Bingo._

Rin stepped forward, swaying for half a heartbeat as she grew dizzy before stomping over to the man.

"Give me that!" She growled, mustering all the menace she could into her voice and posture.

The poor wretch actually had enough in him to shake his head.

"No. No. The goddess entrusted me with it. Its mine. Mine not yours! Leave me alone! I am my lady's servant!"

With a snap of her good fingers the Dreg yelped as a quick burst of fire scalded his forearms and wrists, he dropped the doll. Rin grabbed it from the floor as the man lost his balance and fell on his ass.

The doll's glow was quickly fading and Rin noticed rather easily that there really was nothing special about it. It was a cloth doll with a porcelain head with thick string for hair. The cloth and string had cushioned the head enough for it not to shatter.

It was just as creepy as the demon down there.

She was just about ready to light the thing on fire when the Dregling slammed into her.

"No!" He yelled, pawing at her arm with dirty, crusted fingernails, reaching for the doll as Rin cursed and tried to get a leg up between them to push him off. Having one useless arm was really inconvenient.

"She trusted me with it!" He screamed as Rin fell back against the railing, the stonework digging into the small of her back

She held her hand out, over the edge, trying to keep it away from him as she saw Saber cutting down more and more of the demon's shadow copies.

The man may have been sadly weak and malnourished but he was still a full head and shoulders taller than her if he wasn't hunching. Those stick thin limbs had a surprising amount of force behind them.

Then it hit her. So quick it was like an epiphany.

Its a porcelain headed doll.

She would have rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.

She dropped the thing.

Then, to her utter surprise, the Dreg jumped right after it. Screeching like the madman he was as he plummeted after his precious treasure.

If the thing didn't shatter from the fall, his body landing on it, crumpling and breaking with nauseating, stomach churning crunches, certainly did the trick.

"Kill the damn thing now!" She shouted, hearing her surprisingly strong voice bouncing off the walls.

* * *

If Rin's shout, a randomly falling doll, and an equally random falling man were not enough to tell her something, every single one of the doll demon's copies suddenly vanishing, and the creature throwing down the thick tome in her hands would have certainly tipped her off.

Saber charged, leap frogging her way over the cathedral benches, her feet barely touching down on the solid wood spines before jumping to the next, all but swallowing the distance between herself and the demon.

It raised all four hands this time, and Saber could feel the magical energy just brimming at her fingertips. It felt like static electricity was dancing along her flesh, needles digging under her nails.

The demon's skin cracked and peeled, as though the power itself was turning back to destroy its wielder in its magnitude.

Waiting until the last possible second Saber jumped.

The blond servant vaulted over the creature as the blast was launched from her hands, a wall of white hot energy ripping through the whole cathedral, blasting out the entire entrance in an awe inspiring display as stone was turned to pure dust and not even the woodchips of the door remained.

Then, Saber's blade cut one of the Demon's arms clean off at the shoulder, green magic seeping from the injury like evaporating blood. The servant landed, her back to the altar, she lunged, swinging her sword to cut the demon open at the stomach when it moved back, faster than it was before, Saber's sword only succeeded in cutting open the Demon's hip.

Then, throwing three of its hands forward, the demon cast its spell, the surface of its left cheek bone falling away with the effort.

Saber wouldn't give her the chance to attack.

She rushed forward, her sword all but swinging when something stepped between her and her target.

A dreg.

A mad, foolish dreg.

She colided with the man, the impact of her armored shoulder killing him due to her speed.

But he'd served his purpose.

She stumbled, a delay, nothing more but too costly.

She looked up, feeling the static of magic over her flesh.

Would the power of this attack be enough to kill her?

Probably not.

But this was going to hurt.

She braced herself.

Then its chest exploded.

Shattered pieces of whatever it was made out of smacked Saber across the face, shocked, she felt the magic around her dissipate in an instant, as whatever color the demon's shattered remains held, faded turning into mottled gray as Saber beheld none other than Sage Freke make his way through the destroyed doorway.

"You seemed to be in a bit of a pickle." The mage commented, putting away his wand as he stepped into the cathedral.

Bursting out of a door Rin panted, blood running down her shirt and sweat marring her brow as she half stumbled over to a pillar eying Saber. "Are you alright?"

The Servant nodded. It had been close, but as it stood, it was more her pride that was injured rather than her body.

Rin sighed, nodding, halfway between relief for Saber and relief in general that the fight was over.

She craned her neck, leaning against the stone pillar, she looked at Sage Freke. "How did you get out?"

"Your battle apparently caused enough of a fuss for the demon that I just slipped its mind for a moment. And I was able to rip the barrier open and free myself."

Rin snorted. "And here this was supposed to be a rescue."

"Forgive me if I did not meekly wait in my cell for you ladies but-"

He paused, and all their eyes turned to the glowing remains of the doll Demon at Saber's feet.

The servant stepped back, holding her sword at the ready as Rin pushed herself off the column and stepped a bit closer to Saber, getting herself some room to move around in incase something happened, while sage Freke pulled out his wand again.

The remains of the demon floated up, as though the room had suddenly filled with water and the pieces were far too buoyant.

The bright green was nearly blinding in its intensity.

Then it slammed into Rin's chest.

Unlike Shirou, who only felt as though he'd received an overzealous tap, Rin was struck so hard she was sent sailing down the length of the cathedral, her back slamming and following through to tip over the altar. The candles and white tablecloth clattering to the floor as she heard Saber cry out her name in worry.

_Why?_ She wanted to groan, but all that came out was a half sputtered croak.

She saw Saber appear, hovering above her. Green eyes filled with worry. "Rin, are you alright?!"

Rin pondered that question. Her back was throbbing, her chest felt like it'd caved in, she was nauseous, she had a thrice damned hole in her shoulder, her arm was numb, two of her fingers didn't move, her other arm was all scratched up from where that damn stick figure had tried to claw at her, she was feeling lightheaded from blood loss, and worst of all, now she was getting a headache.

"Just peachy." She coughed out, hoping the sarcasm wasn't lost on Saber.

Then she saw sage Freke join Saber in "hovering mode"

"You've taken it then!?" He said, smiling like a complete lunatic, his voice was almost elated. "You absorbed the Demon's soul!"

Saber started to help her stand while Rin answered. "If by absorbing the demon's soul you mean 'Getting flung across a room that's bigger than most houses' then yea, I definitely did that."

He seemed ready to talk some more when a shadow fell over them.

All three heads snapped up, to the sight of beating wings and grotesque, bat like creatures descending on them.

Rin groaned. Why couldn't this day just be over?

Saber swung her sword, one of the creatures being cut in half the moment it was within range while Freke fired off a spell that shattered another. Dozens more came, glowing red eyes that leered down at them. Rin wanted to summon up a spell herself, but she was wounded, sore, and tired from all the other spells she'd been flinging at the demon and its shadows beforehand, so instead, she moved to get the hell out of the way.

It really was too bad that one of the creatures chose to clamp is long, gnarled fingers around her wounded shoulder when she did.

Rin screamed, the pain sending a dozen signals through her body as she struggled. It only grew worse when the creature started lifting her.

When her feet left the ground, the agony running through Rin's entire left side only got worse, even more so when she felt her shoulder twist in a way it really wasn't supposed to.

She realized it was dislocated when she heard her own shriek.

"Rin!" She heard Saber yell just seconds before the insistent pressure on her arm vanished.

She fell, feeling her stomach rise with the downward motion. She opened her eyes, trying to summon up the necessary concentration and Prana to slow her fall with a spell.

Then she stopped falling, instead feeling the grip now on the back of her shirt.

Awkwardly, she craned her neck back to look seeing the Gargoyle, now sporting only a single arm, had grabbed onto her shirt with the talons of his feet.

"Saber!" She managed to shout hearing her voice and the multitude of creatures hissing and screeching around her.

She didn't get an answer, but she hoped Arturia had heard her.

She wasn't sure she would be able to muster the concentration to slow her fall after this.

She'd risk it though. Better a smear on the ground rather than whatever these things intended to do to her.

"You'd better catch me!" She flung her good arm back, and in a burst of fire the thing holding her exploded like she'd stuck a grenade down its throat.

She fell, this time for longer, she was just starting to worry when she felt an arm coil around her waist and hold her.

The wind got knocked out of her but landing on some stone alcove was worth it.

The gargoyle things screeched and howled, and Saber allowed Rin to fall to the ground as she turned, fully taking her stance as she stood protectively over the brunette's form.

The gargoyle screeched and hissed, loathing in their pit red eyes before they kept flapping their wings and rushed away, up through the hole in the tower.

Saber lingered where she was for a moment before she relaxed and turned to Rin.

The magus was settling herself in a sitting position, grimacing with every movement as the muscles of her dislocated shoulder bunched and moved. "Lets not do that again." She said and Saber nodded. "Where's Freke?" She asked and Saber dared a look over the side of the railing.

The old Sage was down there, peering up at them. He shouted, his voice easily bouncing off the walls to reach them high above.

"I will make my way to the Archstone and free some of the prisoners here if I can. I shall find you ladies again in the Nexus, there is much for us to discuss." Without waiting for another word from either of them he turned and promptly walked out of the cathedral.

Saber felt her brow bristling in annoyance when there was a flash of magic above them. She turned her eyes and just above the edge of the doorway that she could see, she saw the faintest outline of the Archstone sword now jutting out of the ground.

Dismissing her sword for the time being the servant knelt down and hooked Rin's arm over her shoulders, making her rise as gently as she could. "Come on Rin." She said, as soft as her voice had ever been.

With every movement Rin hissed however, until halfway to her feet she shook her head and forcibly pulled herself back down to a sitting position. Saber allowed it waiting for the mage to catch her breath.

"Pop the arm back in." She demanded. "It hurts too much to move otherwise."

Saber nodded, it was not the first dislocated shoulder she had seen, and indeed, even the simplest movements could be turned into excruciating pain depending on how bad the dislocation was. Rin's wasn't an extremely bad dislocation from what she could tell. But it wasn't exactly mild either.

Saber grabbed at the wrist and forearm, sitting down, she placed her foot at Rin's ribs.

The Japanese girl bit her lip waiting.

"Are you ready?"

"Just get it over with!"

Slowly pulling, but with building pressure, Saber saw Rin's brows knit, her teeth grit, her other hand grasping her clothes and fisting them. The Servant twisted the arm slowly, trying to find the spot where the shoulder would catch itself and fall back into place as she tugged.

Then, with a quick spasm, she knew it'd fallen back into place and eased her grip. Rin whimpered with the sharp, pain filled relief of that as she visibly slumped, catching her breath.

This time when Saber picked her up, the young girl was all too happy to make her way back to the arch stone.

* * *

Hey.

Hope you all enjoyed the fight against Demon's Souls "False Idol" Demon AKA "Doll" Demon.

This is one of my longer chapters, the next one will be a bit shorter but whenever the Characters are going to fight a very significant boss fight, like the Arch Demons for instance, I hope to deliver chapters of similar length.


	5. Chapter 5

After what could have been a week in the Nexus, Rin could say with some certainty that Sage Freke was irritating.

No. Irritating was too soft a word. Annoying, chafing, mildly infuriating or exasperating fit much much better.

The man hounded her everywhere she went with pestering questions. She was sure that if Shirou and Saber hadn't stopped him he wouldn't have even let her rest the first day after she'd gotten back from that prison.

As it was, he'd barely allowed the Black Maiden to finish healing her before he was already poking and prodding with questions.

It'd been somewhat interesting at first if she were honest with herself.

"How do you feel?"

"What was it like when the Demon's soul first entered you?"

"Do you sense any change? Magical? Physical?"

"Does it try to influence you?"

"Is there some way you can call upon its power?"

"Does it limit you?"

"Does it affect your dreams?

"Do you see things?"

Do you dream?

His questions had basically helped her make a personal tally of everything wrong or changed about her, to make sure that everything was fine. She did _feel_ something. But the feeling was almost completely abstract. Like heat on what should have been a cold breeze. There was nothing she could really _do_ about it.

So yes, it had been interesting at first but nearly every hour on the hour being approached with a new question was quickly grating.

She'd tried pointing him to Shirou but the moment her red headed friend had confessed that he'd trained with the maiden and subdued the Demon within him Freke's interest in him had abated. He wanted to know what it was to have an untamed Demon soul within the body. Not one that was already _'gelded' _as he'd put it.

When she tried _training_ the same way Shirou did it had not gone very well either.

She wasn't sure if it was because her demon was more mature than Shirou's had been, or because; as the maiden put it _'This demon is very attuned with thine self.'_ but it was unbelievably _hard_ to even gain something of a foothold. She wasn't sure how the hell Shirou had managed it, and apparently neither was he since whenever she asked him for a method or something she could use he would say he was sorry, but that he found it difficult to explain, or even fully recall sometimes.

She could guess that the events that happened in the 'world' the maiden dragged them to to 'fight' the demon souls inside them were taking place somewhere between the subconscious and conscious level. So that might attribute to the patchwork memory that even she experienced to some degree when the Maiden had to drag her out to keep her from being overwhelmed, but it was proving to be very irritating regardless.

All of this was exacerbated by the simple fact that Freke knew about as much as Stockpile Thomas did on how to help get them back to their world. He'd been downright fascinated by the mere concept of alternative realities and parallel dimensions.

Which had just brought on an entirely _different_ wave of questions.

"What is your world like?"

"How are the magics practiced there"

"How do the demonic manifestations compare between your world and ours?"

It was enough to make her want to pull her hair out.

At least until she overheard him say:

"Perhaps the tomes of Grand Master Hesphir could hold the answer to otherworldly travel."

She whirled, swiveling a full 180 degrees from where she'd been heading towards Shirou, Saber and Ostrava to Freke's small little alcove between the outer row of stairs and two pillars of the antechamber.

She all but shoved his apprentice out of the way.

"What was that!?"

He looked up from his book, startled to see her. "Oh, lady Tohsaka. A thought just came to me. Grand Master Hesphir was one of the leading theorists of magic before the coming of the fog and the awakening of the Old One. His notes are said to be brilliant, focusing on various branches of magical implementation. I just thought that perhaps in one of his books in the Boletarian palace you might find the answer you seek on how to return to your world. Oh and another question-"

She turned and ran before he could finish

* * *

Shirou handed her a bowl, the steaming broth wafting up a delightful smell to her nostrils "Thank you Shirou." He smiled, nodding before passing a similar bowl to Ostrava, who looked absolutely delighted at the sight of Shirou's cooking a sentiment that was mirrored by everyone in the Nexus.

Especially (though not outwardly) herself.

After a diet consisting of salted meat, salted fish, salted pork, salted horse and anything else he could salt enough to preserve for months on end in the desolate Boletaria, Shirou's cooking was to Ostrava "A food fit for kings surely!" And whenever the food was done almost everyone in the Nexus drew themselves to the cooking pot like men possessed. Dropping whatever they were doing instantly.

So far all he could make were a variety of stews, with only the large cauldron in hand but soon Boldwin would finish hammering out the other kinds of pots for him to cook other things

Free of charge the Blacksmith had promised too. Which, to listen to the others was practically unheard of.

Shirou sat down with his own bowl in hand and Saber found her self once more taking in his new attire. After a day, or perhaps two he and Rin had discovered rather quickly that, unlike her own clothes, theirs could and would get filthy after an extended period. And so they'd changed into whatever the Maiden and the Monumental could grant them from previous refugees that had hidden in the Nexus for a time before they'd never returned from an outing through the archstones.

So he and Rin were dressed in a patchwork of leathers and rags.

If they were bothered with using the clothes of the dead they did a remarkable job of hiding it. Shirou's pants were much too wide on him, having to secure it very tightly with a belt and only just reaching to his ankles, just shy of being too short. The only thing of his previous attire he still wore were his shoes.

She didn't blame him, or Rin for that matter.

The shoes of this world were horrible, even by Medieval English standards.

In fact...the only person here who did not wear deer or cowhide shoes was...Ostrava.

She looked down at the hedge knight's feet, clad in tough black leather, there were fittings and hooks on the side to accommodate his shin and toe-guards, buckles of silver studding the front.

Saber narrowed her eyes just a bit.

Before she could follow this thought further however Rin practically lunged over herself and Shirou, startling all three of them as she damn near tackled Ostrava, sending his bowl of stew clattering to the floor as her hands jostled his shoulders with a shake.

"Lady Tohsakah what in-"

"Do you know where the books of Master Hesphir are?"

Ostrava blinked. "The books of Maste-"

"Master Hesphir!" She nearly shouted. "Big wig magus in your world, very important. His books are in the palace. Do you know where exactly?"

Ostrava blinked, his eyes wandering, searching for a memory. "I...I believe I might recall-"

"Great!" She shouted, letting him go as she rounded on them. "I think I just discovered the Zeltretch of this world!"

Her two friend's blinked.

"The who?"

"Nevermind, doesn't matter." Rin said. "If we get to the palace of Boletaria we can find this guy's scrolls, simple right?"

"You mean this Hepir?"

"Hesphir." Rin and Ostrava corrected the red-head before the brunette continued. "His books might hold some information."

"How do you know?" Shirou asked.

"I don't." She answered, shrugging.

He gaped, she shrugged. It was Saber who broke the silence with a quick contemplative word. "Its more than what we've had."

"Doesn't it sound like grasping at straws though?" Shirou asked, looking between both women.

Saber looked at Rin, and though the brunette glared at Shirou, she did not open her mouth to rebuke him.

They _were _grasping at straws.

But a faint hope was better than none.

The servant ate some more of her stew.

"I was planning to take the Archstone back to Boletaria soon." Ostrava commented with a graceful nod. "Your help will be much appreciated. Truly."

Saber heard the patter of feet behind her. By the sound of heavy cloth, she recognized Freke's robes.

Rin's grimace might have also given it away.

"Lady Tohsaka, I was wondering-"

"I don't know." Rin flatly answered.

"No no. Its not a question...well...not the kind you're thinking of. How would you like to learn a certain magic?"

That peaked Rin's interest.

"What kind of Magic?"

Freke smiled.

* * *

A magic fueled by the power and knowledge of the Demon Soul within her.

It would be interesting.

If it didn't seem so goddamn terrifying at the same time.

She'd seen the demon, she'd tried to subdue it. Every time she'd felt only the decay and rot of _age _pour over her skin like a wet, slimy mucous membrane. Every time the Maiden in Black would have to fend it off before pulling her out of that place.

And now Freke was asking her to try out something completely experimental that he'd dug up from some book that looked more withered than Blacksmith Boldwin. And that man had enough wrinkles for a map maker to pick up a new project.

The only thing that was giving her just the faintest inkling that this _might_ not be a _completely_ stupid idea, only a _mostly_ stupid one; was the Maiden in Black, who sat down as serene as ever, listening to Freke and confirming that it was possible. Though, obviously it had been many years since anything like this had been taught, or even attempted with a low level demon. Let alone a fully matured greater one.

Still, a spell of the _demon. _Which spell she would learn she had no idea, Freke said that he only knew enough of the ritual right now to impart enough knowledge for one of the demon's spells, not all.

But still.

One spell, like the ones that thing had been forming?

Good enough to have any of those.

She sighed heavily. "Well...it can't be more dangerous than what I've been trying to do to suppress the demon by myself eh?"

She looked to the Maiden for some kind of reassurance but all she got was a blank, wax covered stare.

* * *

The ink felt sticky on her head. Though the symbol was downright simplistic, almost insultingly so. A cross. Though Freke did make her chug down three different bitter concoctions that Shirou had eyed as though they were carrying some foul disease when they'd been removed from the kettle (they tasted like they did too)

And so now she was sitting in one of the elevated anterooms, away from the prying eyes of the other half dozen residents of the Nexus, with the Maiden kneeling infront of her, legs tucked under her body

Freke fussing with his last few spell readings, and Shirou and Saber standing off to the side to observe, Shirou openly concerned, Saber as stoic as usual.

Sometimes Rin got the impression her grandfather clock could have a more expressive face than the King of Knights.

Though that wasn't entirely true or fair. If she looked at her. _Really _looked...with a magnifying glass...and a lot of time...she would _eventually_ see the deep rooted concern there. They may not be Master and Servant and they may not have known each other very long but Rin considered Saber something of a friend and she was sure, despite her stoicism Saber felt the same. People don't risk life and limb together fighting a monster like _**Berserker **_without something like friendship to tether them. Same went for Shirou.

Though she'd face _**Berserker, **_again, and alone for good measure before she admitted that!

"Very well, everything's in place, lets begin."

"You sure?" She asked, nearly scowling as she found herself fidgeting nervously. Tohsaka Rin did not fidget.

"As sure as I can be." He answered, much to her irritation. (And growing unease) "Now then, let us begin."

He looks to the Maiden. "Now then, please draw out her Demon Soul."

"Wait-What?" She and Shirou chorused while Saber merely raised a delicate eyebrow in question.

"She can do that?" She heard Shirou spit out from where he sat against the wall.

"Of course!" Freke scoffed, eying the dark woman with a strange look, as if taunting her with something he knew. "She can do virtually anything with Demon Souls." The look vanished a moment later. "Though its only temporary, eventually the Demon will return to its host. Attempting to remove it indefinitely would end...well...lets just say there's a reason most choose to risk their sanity subduing the spirits."

The Maiden's placid face revealed nothing, wax covered eyes not even turning to look at the man before she held her hands forward, palms up. "Grant me thine hands." Her voice lilted, again like the sound of a bell, as calm as ever despite the tension.

Rin placed her hands on hers, finding her skin to be cold to the touch, ice cold, like she'd been standing in a snow storm all day with no gloves on.

She wondered how the woman could be this cold in a place that was perpetually kept at a certain temperature, when she felt something pull at her gut.

It was the strangest sensation, almost like going down the rise of a roller coaster when you feel that momentary weightlessness, that churning in your stomach.

The strange feeling quickly grew nauseating and Rin found herself concentrating on _not_ throwing up on the woman infront of her.

Then it was over as quickly as it had started. She opened her eyes, finding that now, hovering between their hands was a nebulous, blue cloud with a glowing, baby blue pearl on the inside. It almost resembled those diagrams of cells, with an outer layer and a nucleus.

"Fascinating." She heard Freke mutter while Shirou and Saber inched themselves forward, clearly interested.

Then, the mage placed his hand on her head, making her look up to him as he spoke. "You must remember. Focus, on yourself. Keep in mind who you are and what you want. If you allow the demon control, the spell will destroy you."

"You didn't mention that before." She hissed.

"Do you wish to back out now?" The question was rhetorical, he already knew the answer, so did she.

He started chanting.

The spell was long and complicated, with words of power that made her skin tingle as though it was being jolted with static with one word, and made it crawl with revulsion in another.

Finally, he closed the book, cutting off his chant as he dropped it and drove his now free hand into the nebulous cloud, gripping its core like some oversized apple.

It felt like ice. A cold sliver sneaking its way into her temple before the pounding pressure assaulted her mind. Like she'd swallowed some frozen drink in one gulp and was now suffering the worst brain freeze in history.

Her tongue felt like wool, stuffed in her mouth, her fingers curled with pain, bone deep, her thoughts felt sluggish and hampered, muddled, and the pain only intensified, now feeling like a drill was trying to bore its way into her skull.

Like a fog creeping across the land she feels her mind wane, her thoughts becoming cloudy, muddled. A quagmire overtakes her, threatens to overwhelm her as panic sets in.

She stops it. With a burst of willpower she lashes out with whatever vestiges she has left of her mind. Thrashing and clawing at anything, searching, grasping.

_'Keep in mind who you are and what you want.'_

She focused on that thought, that voice grasping onto it like a tether. From it she finds the owner, Freke, from him, the place, The Nexus, from there she finds more...people. The Monumental, the Maiden, Thomas, Boldwin, Ostrava.

But she is not there. She does not belong here like they do. She fumbles and grasps, mind limbs flailing as she searches.

She cannot grasp it. Cannot find it. There is too much, too tangled. She needs...something else...simple. A place to start...

She finds it, like an instinct. She latches onto this new thing, this thought.. It was a man, tall with a trim of dark hair at his chin. He has blue eyes, ruffled hair. He's smiling.

_'I know him_' She thinks. '_I know his name_' She pulls another thought free from the icy pain. _'Tokiomi.'_

_'This is my father.'_

She follows the thread of thought. Follows it. If this is her father then she shares his name. Tohsakah. She shares that name...she follows that name coiling through the trail of breadcrumbs.

_'I know me.'_

_'My name is Rin. Tohsakah Rin.'_

More thoughts come free, like a child finding a box full of trinkets she pulls at them, individual strands at first, pulling and tugging until they came loose, some were vibrant and bright. Faces, names.

A boy with red hair, stupid, nigh useless. Shirou.

He has a Servant. Her name is Saber, useful, smart dour, cold.

Both are good people.

Then she pulls more, tugging at clusters of strings, taking handfuls in her ethereal hands as she pulls and yanks them free. Others that she's seen, that she knows. Archer, Illyasviel, Sakura, Fujimura-sensei. More and more she pulls and tugs, the fragments coming together. Until she is herself again and the pain is but a distant memory, now an annoyance at the back of her skull.

She finds one more string, one that should not be there, Its not bright like hers, its dull, opaque, long, endlessly long. She grabs at it, the pain is back, more acute now, but she endures it, pulling and pulling at this thing that should not be here.

Finally, it tethers, and snaps severed from its source to become part of the whole that is Tohsakah Rin.

* * *

She wakes up to her head on the Maiden's lap, squinting up at, Shirou and Saber's worried faces, at Freke's curious one, and at the light provided by the flickering candles that are _still lit_ none of them ever go out in this place.

"Tohsaka, are you alright." Shirou asks and he's worried, more than anyone else seems to be.

So it might be just a tad bit unfair when she answers his concern with sarcasm.

"Why is it, that whenever someone asks '_Are you alright' _Its during a time frame where people are most likely _not_ alright at all."

He sighs, half exasperated, half annoyed. She smiles.

"So you have it then?" Freke asks. "You have the Demon's knowledge?"

Rin rolls her eyes at the Sage's insistence. For all he knows she could have just beaten her head against a proverbial wall, had an aneurism or something.

"Saber?"

The servant steps forward, standing a little closer. "Yes Rin?"

She flicks her wrist and a beam of familiar light makes Saber cringe, even as it disintegrates before her magical shields.

Shirou is yelling at her, and Saber merely wipes her clothes off of some imaginary dust while Freke 'oooh's and 'aaah's The only one who stays calm is the Maiden, who lets her use her lap as a pillow and holds her hand over her forehead as if taking her temperature.

She wants to tell Shirou to shut up, that Saber would be fine against her magic, that she couldn't go shooting the wall. It might damage something. She wants to tell Saber sorry for using her as a target, even though she's really not since there was no chance of her being hurt. She wants to tell Freke to go teach his apprentice something for a change. But she doesn't. Because mostly, she wants to sleep. She feels the drain of Prana all too acutely right now. Feels the exhaustion spreading up from her limbs to the rest of her body. So she does what she wants.

She sleeps, and ignores everyone.

* * *

Fillerish more than anything else really but hopefully You all enjoyed it. The next chapter will be returning to Boletaria, and for those of you who've played Demon Souls I'm sure you can remember the wonderful challenges presented in world 1-2 that will be available to our heroes in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

The Archstone glows, and they are standing in the entrance corridor where they defeated their first demon.

Ostrava looks around, his shield in hand, sword hilt in his grip, ready to be unsheathed. His helmet visor is down, obscuring his features as they all make sure no dregs or creatures bleed out of the walls to attack them.

Rin doesn't have a weapon, she doesn't really need one. The only reason she's even bothering carrying this buckler shield that weighs as much as her backpack is because Shirou insisted. Endlessly.

He's got a shield too, on his back, along with a bow in his hand and a quiver full with nearly thirty arrows on his hip.. Boldwin had been livid at the mere thought of giving it to them free, but Shirou had agreed to make any meal he wanted when they returned and Ostrava had paid for her shield.

No one moved for a second, and she wondered when they would get the hint that nothing was gonna try to claw out their faces in here.

Seeing none of them taking the initiative a few seconds into her wait, Rin began walking.

They followed after her without a word.

* * *

He had a headache.

Servants shouldn't have headaches.

Counter Guardian's shouldn't have headaches.

It was practically a rule. If it wasn't something that bled, it didn't matter.

And yet here he was with a headache pounding at his skull, right between his eyes.

He understood Rin needed knowledge. Its what every Magus needed. Knowledge to them was the same as the whetstone to the sword.

But why the hell did she have to have so _much _of it. And hardly any of it being _useful_ to him.

Rin, he knew, was organized in her books. But he also knew that it was a Chaotic order. _She _knew where everything was. Partly because of who she was, partly as a defense so no one else would get their hands so easily on her books if her wards and boundary fields failed her.

So that left him needing to sift through _everything _that she had in order to try and find her.

And he hadn't even scratched the surface of Ilya's _massive_ library either.

It was a simple arrangement that they had really. He was a Servant without a Master. She was a Master without a Servant. Neither of their respective others were dead. They both knew this. Her because she still had her command seals and him because he could still feel the Master Servant link with Rin.

So they had to find them.

To do that they needed a spell.

So they had to find it.

But he knew that he would not be able to cast such a spell (or almost any other) by himself. Especially if their suspicions held true that they were going to have to make an opening through the fabric of reality in order to find them.

So he needed her Prana.

Which was endless...

He would protect her, she would be the fuel.

He didn't even want to think of the very likely possibility that the spell would be far too complex for _either_ of them to grasp.

Even so, now all they had to do was find the spell.

By reading all these books.

He groaned, leaning back in his, Rin's, chair and rubbing at his temples.

He smirked, '_She's probably going to rip me a new one for letting Ilya anywhere near her books.'_

The door opened, light filtered in through the hallway, he looks up, and sees the pale little girl with the red eyes standing there, blinking at him.

"You're still up?" She asks, rubbing one of her eyes.

"I could ask you the same." He said. "You went to bed hours ago."

"Couldn't sleep." She mumbled walking over, climbing up and eventually plopping herself onto a chair, her chest barely reaching the height of the table.

She opened a book, but he can see she'll be too tired to really be of much use right now, her eyes are still droopy.

"Why not?" He asks.

She looks up, angry, he recognizes that face, same face she always used when she wanted to avoid a question. Or more importantly, the answer.

"Its none of your business! Lets just get back to work Servant."

She pours herself into reading. He smiles and waits.

An hour later her head is clonked down on the book, snoring softly. He places a bookmark between the pages of his own book, before closing it, reaching down to pick her up and carrying her back to her bed.

* * *

They walked out onto a bridge.

Although, truth be told Saber, wasn't even sure if something of this length could really be called a bridge anymore.

It was wide enough to allow maybe a dozen people through at once, in the distance she could see three battlement checkpoints along its length. Half decomposed corpses were strewn here and there, a horse was being chewed on by a raven halfway between where they stood and the first checkpoint.

"This castle should have been impossible to take." She commented. "Even if only a hundred men stood on the battlements this bridge could have them holding off thousands."

"The demons did not strike at us with an army Milady." Ostrava answered, his voice carefully neutral as they began to make their way across, stepping over the bodies of the dead. "They struck at us from within, turning the weakest of us and corrupting the strongest."

Her lips tightened, her grip growing tight on Excalibur.

"One moment of betrayal can bring more ruin than an Earthquake." Ostrava continued and she nodded, though she knew he didn't notice with his helmet on.

It was true, and Saber let her head drop as the memories of her own betrayals resurfaced, ghosting across her thoughts before she pushed them back again.

"Ne, Saber, are you alright?"

She turns, startled, and she finds Shirou looking at her, gentle concern creasing his brow. She smiles, more for his benefit than for her truth be told.

"I'm fine Shirou."

"You looked like you were thinking about something." He prodded.

She shook her head. "Its nothing of concern."

They heard a strange sound.

Each one of them paused on the bridge, looking around when the sound came again, Saber couldn't truly place it but...it sounded like-

"Is that...wings?" Rin asked. Then paled. Her head snapped up, eyes locking on Shirou in a moment of shared panic and Saber was barely able to comprehend that some silent message had been passed between the two of them before they each pounced, Shirou grabbing onto her wrist while Rin grabbed onto Ostrava.

"Run!"

"Move!"

They shouted, dragging their other two companions; much to Ostrava's startled surprise and Saber's bewilderment.

It became clear why however when she looked back in time to see a massive red dragon rise over the Castle behind them like some great bat, the beating of its wings causing the sound they'd heard earlier.

"Oh not this again!" She heard Shirou yell as she found her feet, now running as fast as him.

It dove after them, screeching so loud it made their teeth rattle.

Then it breathed fire.

The heat was unbearable, Saber could almost swear the attack had hit them completely. She could hear the cracks and snaps as stone and mortar ruptured beneath the flames, smell the burning meat and smoke.

She pushed Shirou forward as they reached the first waycastle.

The flames chased after them with Rin and Ostrava darting to the side of the gateway, shielding themselves from the relentless fire as she and Shirou hit the floor, the fire rushing right over their flat bodies.

The flames subsided, and there was no time for pain, no time to check injuries and see who was alright and who wasn't. The beast landed just outside, its massive wings eclipsing the gateway as its long neck darted in, its mouth open as it sought to swallow her and Shirou whole.

She stands, one fluid motion as her blade slices the beast across the bridge of its nose, releasing a spurt of blood that hisses and smokes like acid as it touches the floor.

The dragon reels snapping its jaws before it sucks in a breath.

"Saber!"

She looks at Shirou, watching the younger man open a doorway to the side.

She runs, vaulting over the shattered remains of a carriage, the railing of the rise and through the open door it as fire licks at her clothes, the back of her dress is singed, smoking black. She sees Ostrava, stabbing at the beasts neck, his rune sword barely able to cut into its tough hide.

The beast rears, snarling, the top of his bony crest smashing against the ceiling as he swivels his head around to face the Boletarian.

Rin scoots past the knight, diving beneath the creatures neck, and Saber feels a thrill of fear run through her as the beast snaps at the brunette with a bone grinding _**clack **_of its jaws.

Rin half stumbles half falls with the junk at her feet, and the dragon cranes its long neck up to look down on her, growling and snarling, ignoring Ostrava as the Boletarian knight shouts, banging his sword against his shield in an attempt to draw its attention.

It lunges down, Saber isn't sure if its just her heart that's dropped into a pit, or if everyone shares the sensation before they see Rin roll to the side, the Dragon's muzzle slamming into the stones with a fleshy thump before it rears back again.

Saber lunges, Excalibur lashing out a second time, aiming for the underside of the thing's mouth. But the beast sees her coming, its an animal, but its not stupid, her blade cut him once already.

It jerks back, this time its shoulders and head dislodge stonework above them, sending cut masonry crumbling down.

Saber lands on her feet, turning in time to see a claw swipe at her. She backs away, feeling the wind of the attack brushing across her hair as she sees the dragon try to snap down at Rin a second time.

Then an arrow plunges in right between its teeth and tongue.

The dragon _screeches_ in pain, pulling back as its head shakes frantically from side to side and Saber _knows_ that the shock of that shot is shared by everyone, not just her, and they all freeze for a moment.

Then they're moving again, with Shirou ushering them out the door bow held in a white knuckled grip, Ostrava shouting something about an underground tunnel and the Dragon still screeching and howling as it pulls out of this chamber and takes to the skies again, spitting fire with the pain of an arrowhead lodged in its gums.

* * *

The doorbell chimes.

He doesn't move at first, so shocked that anything had crawled its way all the way up here to knock at the door, but after a couple of seconds the bell chimes again...and again after a couple more seconds so he picks himself up.

Archer's surprised to find himself wincing at a crick in his back when he fully stands. Shouldn't servant's be immune to that too?

He makes his way through the mansion's halls, glad that Servant's at least have clothing that self repairs, if he'd greeted anyone with half his clothes in tatters after fighting Berzerker, they'd think him crazy, or worse start asking questions.

He opens the door as the bell chimes one more time.

And of all the people that could have been standing there, Counter Guardian Emiya finds that _this_ particular individual was the _last_ possibility he would have suspected.

Really. It could have been anyone. A pizza delivery boy, the mail man, a surprise family member, a rival Master, a rival Servant, Rin herself, another counter guardian, hell, even another version of himself sent here by the root of the world to fix some problem, time paradox rules be damned, wouldn't have been nearly as shocking as seeing Matou Sakura at Rin's doorstep.

"Ano...excuse me but is Emiya Shirou here?"

"He isn't." And Archer isn't quite sure if that would strictly classify as a _lie _per-se.

"But you have seen him?" She asks. "He hasn't been in his home for the last two days, no one's seen him or Tohsaka-san in school...I-"

"So you thought he'd be here." Archer concludes. Rin had been staying in Emiya's house. He should have known Sakura would draw some conclusions eventually. "I'm sorry to say he isn't."

"Is Tohsaka-sa-"

"Excuse me." He interrupts, he understood where Sakura was coming from, but he didn't have time for it. "There are many duties that I must attend, good luck in finding your friend." He moves to close the door, and with bone jarring force that's more shocking than powerful, Sakura's palm smacks against the hardwood, stopping it from closing.

Archer raises a surprised eyebrow, Sakura flushes, beet red from her cheeks to her ears, embarrassed.

"Umm...please...if you could just tell me where Tohsaka-san is I would appreciate it."

And Archer wonders for the first time if he hadn't gotten things backwards. Maybe he and Ilya were flung into some alternate world while Rin, Berzerker, Saber and Emiya were stuck in the normal world.

Because even with the paradox rules he remembers Sakura. And he knows for damn sure she didn't have steel in her spine. Not even a nickles worth.

Before anything more can be said between them. Archer feels the strange sensation of little arms wrapping themselves around his leg.

"Why'd you get _uuup._" He hears a whine in Ilya's voice. "Why don't you come back to the bed and play with me?"

He's about to ask her what the hell she's talking about when he see's Sakura's _**horrified **_face. "That is definitely not what it sounds like!" He mouths off, nearly slapping himself a moment later. That was the worst thing he could have possibly said.

And its true, Sakura's horrified face morphs into one of dark fury.

Ilya doesn't help much either. She's giggling. "Oh silly, come on hurry. Lets go play like we did last night."

And Archer has to wonder for a moment, if its not just a cursed existence as a counter-guardian that is to be his punishment. If maybe, just maybe the Root of the world took some kind of vindictive pleasure in _fucking_ with him whenever it wanted a good laugh.

He could say that she's actually eighteen, but somehow, he suspected that would just be hammering in the final coffin-nail.

Ilya giggles again, all too innocent, launches herself up and wraps her arms around his neck, making him hunch down, just enough for her whisper to reach his ear.

"_Knock her out when she turns her back."_

Sakura pulls Ilya off of him and they're speaking, and Ilya's suddenly acting the girl again, dancing around Sakura and tugging her by her hands this way and that way. Archer wonders what the hell is going on. Wonders what the girl with snow white hair is planning, but its too late to turn back now. If Sakura were to leave and go to the police about a supposed pedophile there would be _so _many more complications.

Sakura turns her back for a moment, distracted by Ilya's antics and its enough.

* * *

Its cold, dark, damp and Shirou finds himself panting, half from fear, half from exertion. They can hear the dragon screeching above. The leathery thrust of its wings still beating against the air as it circled.

He leans against the wall, slick with grime, its disgusting but he doesn't pull away, his bow clatters to the floor.

"Pick that up!" Rin snaps, and he scrambles to obey, nearly tripping over his own feet. "You may be the worst mage in history but you're a damn good shot!"

He wonders if all her complements have to be preceded, or followed by an insult...

"What is this Ser?" Saber asks, breathing hard herself.

Servant or not, it wasn't often one tangled with a Dragon.

"This tunnel leads straight from the Boletarian fortress gate, to the prison cells." Ostrava answers, pointing from one dim, dark, cavernous passageway on one side to the other dim, dark, cavernous passageway on his other side. "The nobility never believed it proper for Honest folk to have to share the streets with convicted criminals and thieves."

Rin straightened, finally feeling the adrenalin die away from her hands. "They'll serve us just as well I guess."

"And anything else that wanted to get away from that dragon." Saber comments, Ostrava nods, and Shirou has to agree. Especially with her next statement. "Be ready, the dragon might be out there but that does not mean we're safe in here."

* * *

Archer finishes tying the last knot. If you didn't know him, you'd say he seemed calm. If you did know him, you'd be able to tell he is infact, downright pissed. "Tell me just what the hell this is?"

Ilya smiled, walking up to him in her usual purple dress again, placing her hand on Sakura's arm and angling it.

He soon sees the unmistakeable glow of command seals. Shaped like "She's a Master too."

He's surprised. He knows he won't remember the events of the war, despite his...participation in it due to the paradox rules, but Sakura being a Master is just as surprising as her standing at Rin's door this morning.

"She's a Master without a servant." Ilya says.

He prides himself in his cleverness, but he's still not getting it. He stands up, turning to face Ilya fully and crossing his arms. "And again, we kidnapped her because..."

Ilya puffs out her cheeks, again looking like the little girl she wasn't. "She's a Master without a servant, that means another servant will come looking for her when they loose their master."

"And what you want me to ambush them? We have to find Rin, the Saber and your Berzerker."

"And Shirou-kun." she reminds him.

Archer fights the urge to sigh. "Yes...him too."

"Well, Sakura-san likes Shirou-kun, so if we convince her to help us then when she gets a servant again, that'll make things easier."

"How do you even know that she likes Saber's Master?"

She looked at him like he was an idiot. Archer rolled his eyes. Anyone with eyes and half a brain could see it. And Ilya was observant when she wanted to be.

"So let me see if I'm understanding this right." He said after a moment, rubbing his temples. "Your grand plan is to tell Sakura what's going on, tell her how we're planning to get everyone back, convince her to help us, so that when one servant looses their master..._IF _a servant looses a master, that servant will come here, make a pact with her and thus...make some kind of alliance by proxy?"

She smiled. "Yes!"

Archer stared at her for a moment before turning around and making his way to the kitchen.

"Hey where are you going!" She yells after him. "She's gonna wake up soon."

"You handle it. I'm getting a drink."

"Can servants even get drunk?"

"I'm about to try!"

* * *

The last thing Shirou expected to hear in these tunnels was drunken singing.

Truly. They'd found dreglings, rabid, half starved dogs, and several other unmentionable things and none had really surprised him. This place was beyond surprise.

But drunken singing? Really?

Who the hell would be crazy enough to get drunk here?

Who the hell would be crazy enough to _sing_?

As they came closer and closer, the bellowing...wails that could only passably be described as singing became a bit more coherent and comprehensible.

"I know that voice."

Shirou looked to Ostrava, only half managing to ignore Rin's soft utterance of "My condolences."

"That's Biorr." Ostrava said with more confidence.

"Biorr?" He found himself asking.

"Biorr, one of the Twin Fangs." The knight said, a bit too loudly for all their tastes. "He and his brother Valarfax are the finest knights in the kingdoms. Their skill is legendary."

"They have to have something to make up for the singing." Rin said, stepping past them. "Come on, it doesn't sound like he's in trouble but he's probably luring every slavering lunatic within a mile here."

Shirou moved forward, rushing his steps to get infront of Rin, while Saber moved to place herself infront of him and Ostrava moved to place himself infront of her again. It would have been comical if the fear of some beast or other crawling out of the shadows was not a very real danger.

Just as it seemed they were reaching the source of the singing they found their passage barred by a portcullis, postern gate.

Ostrava sheathed his sword. "Normally there'd be a small batalion of lancers and crossbowmen on the other side of this gate, shooting through the openings at attackers, now though.

He reached down, and Shirou slung his bow across his back, reaching down after a second to help him.

Both men grabbed the wood and steel gate.

"Count of three."

They heaved, and Shirou felt his arms straining before the gate started sliding up like some garage door.

Saber and Rin ducked under the gate, quickly as they could, Shirou and Ostrava straining as they shifted from one side to the other before letting the gate drop back down to the floor, its spikes digging into its proper grooves.

Shirou turned around, just in time to see Rin pulling away from Saber's ear with a wicked smile on her face, while Saber blushed like a shy girl.

"What?"

"Oh nothing...nothing." Rin's smile was wider, crueler...predatory. It made Shirou, its recipient, and even Ostrava, who could barely be considered collateral damage, uneasy.

Curious, but dreading the notion of following through on this, Shirou gingerly stepped around the two women, for once taking the lead, trying to ignore Rin's wicked smile and those beady little eyes following him.

Finally, they stepped into an open chamber, dipping their heads a bit as they passed beneath the archway of the tunnel to enter. The torches were lit, recently most like. But what really caught their eye was the stumbling, fumbling drunk in the cell.

The man was filthy, his hair in stringy clumps, his beard bushy at his chin and cheeks, dressed in a tunic that may have once been white but was now closer to black.

"This, is one of the greatest knights of Boletaria?" Rin's incredulity was not exclusive to herself.

Ostrava ignored her, stepping forward he rattled the lock on the door before drawing his runesword and beginning to bash it with the hilt of the blade.

The loud, rithmic ***clang clang clang* **brought Biorr's attention to them, finally, the drunken prisoner stumbled forward.

"You there." He slurred through his lips. "Where is my armor! A knight of Boletaria must have his armor."

They ignored him, watching as Ostrava kept banging against the lock with the pommel of his weapon.

"Oh move." Rin finally snapped, pushing Ostrava aside." She brought her hand up, focusing for a moment, and with a blue silver flash, the lock was ripped apart by magic.

Biorr screamed, still drunk, still uncomprehending. Shirou watched the man stumble and fall flat onto his ass while Ostrava ripped the door open with a screech of protesting metal.

Looking at Rin, he found her studying her own hand, smiling thinly with satisfaction.

He wondered why she always did that, hid her real motivations. She'd done that when she wanted to team up with him, did it most of the time that she wanted something from what he could tell. If she wanted to test out her new magic why didn't she just say so?

Ostrava knelt, grabbing at Biorr as he pulled him to an upright sitting position.

"Ser Biorr." Ostrava called, smacking him lightly. "Ser Biorr. Do you know where you are."

The man smiled, lopsided and foolish. "Prince. Prince is that you? Oh you're back."

Then he slumped forward, passing out ontop of the knight.

"Prince?" – "Well he's useless right now." Saber and Rin said respectively.

"This is no normal drunkeness." Ostrava mused, reaching for the wineskin, at the corner of the cell. He lifted the visor of his helmet, sniffing at it. He grimaced. "They probably left this here for days. He'd eventually have to drink."

"So they laced the wine with rooffies or something?"

Ostrava didn't know what a 'rooffie' was, but he could guess at her meaning. He shrugged. "I suppose that could be true. Biorr and his brother Valarfax are the strongest men in the kingdom besides the gate guardians. If they want him alive, it would be best to keep him subdued in this manner."

He stood up, marching out of the cell and dragging back a pale full of water and dumping it into the corner of the cell, taking the wineskin and throwing it out. "We cannot carry him back to the Archstone, not with that dragon about. When he wakes, he can drink that. From there he can handle himself I'm sure.

"So we press onward then?" Saber asked.

Ostrava nodded.

"Are you sure that's alright?" Shirou spoke up, "Just leaving him here like this? What if one of those dregs shows up?"

"They wanted Biorr alive for a reason." Ostrava answered him. "Let us pray that is enough to keep him safe for the time being. We press on towards the next demon for now. We cannot tarry here."

"He's right." Rin said, brushing past them and gesturing to the stairwell. "So who wants to go up and poke their head out first?"

Saber immediately stepped forward, placing herself deliberately before Ostrava as she made her way up, weapon held at the ready.

They climbed the stairs, passing beneath the lowered drawbridge and back into the building through a second flight of stairs, emerging in an antechamber. Shirou looked up, and saw the kill hole where the soldiers would have dropped cauldrons of boiling oil onto attackers, seeing only empty catwalks and still tools.

The fog, just like before. At the portcullis gate where they had fought the first demon. It loomed over them like some opera curtain about to be raised for the performance.

They each eyed the portal, lining up along its length, equal parts wary and curious.

Then, as if by some silent agreement the four stepped through.

Shirou felt a moment freeze over him, as though he was suddenly trapped in a shell of ice, his body unresponsive. He couldn't feel his limbs, his eyes, the saliva in his mouth, all sensation simply vanished leaving only cold, unfeeling movement.

Then it was gone, and he and the others found themselves looking up.

And up...

And up...

Emiya Shirou could only think of one thing as he stared up at the massive demon that was known simply as The Tower Knight.

_'You've got to be kidding...'_

* * *

The following chapters will be very exciting I think. At least its shaping up real nicely in my head, AKA: the drawing board. So I'm kind of enthused about the whole thing.

To anyone that has played Demon Souls, tell me that Shirou's thought's or the equivalent of was not exactly the same thing you thought when you saw that behemoth.

Anyway hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Like I said, the ones coming up is when things will start to pick up a bit, both in the DS world and the FS/N univ. =p


	7. Chapter 7

Its first step all but threw out the floor from under them.

The ground literally shook at a mere footfall, its boot alone the size of a small boat, attached to a leg the size of a tree, to a torso as wide as a house.

_Good god._

It raised its spear and thrust.

The attack was brutally quick, with everyone diving out of its way, struggling not to fall as the ground shook beneath them.

Shirou kept his feet, if only just. He turned, only to find that colossal face of the Demon's shield bearing down to crush him.

An arm coiled around his waist, the speed and power of the pull making it feel like a blow. The red headed magus felt the breath knocked out of his lungs as Saber pulled him, the shockwave of the shield smashing into the ground enough to make his ears pop and his teeth rattle before Saber set him down.

He found his feet through reflex, obeying instantly as Saber shouted to everyone.

"Spread out! We can't stay together!"

* * *

"Ne-Sakura-chan are you waking up?"

Her head was pounding, her tongue was dry. Sakura felt her vision bleed back from darkness to colors.

She blinked and saw a splash of purple.

Her sight cleared slowly, until finally she realized that, sitting infront of her was the little girl from before.

"Ahh you're up Sakura-chan. That's good."

The little girl smiled. Bright and innocent, Sakura groaned, rubbing her head as she moved to stand only for Ilya to hold her down, two tiny hands pressing down on Sakura's shoulders.

"Hey, stay still now. You might still be a bit dizzy." The little girl's smile was sweet, her face open. Sakura found herself relaxing a bit despite the fact that she was waking up in a strange place before a total stranger. It was alarming in and of itself really.

"Anyway, I'm Illyasviel von Einzbern."

That made Sakura stiffen. And that smile was no longer sweet, it morphed, changing right before her eyes to a smirk, the warmth seeped out of it as it turned cold and very nearly began to touch the boundaries of cruel with those unnerving red eyes.

"You recognize the name right?"

Sakura went to shake her head 'No' when she felt her entire body seize up, freezing against her will for a moment before Ilya's disarming smile returned.

"You don't have to lie Sakura-chan." She said, that innocent little voice doing nothing but make her heart beat faster with greater fear. "We don't want to hurt you at all. We actually need your help"

Sakura bowed her head, wishing that the earth would just swallow her, spirit her away from this place. Eizbern, in Tohsakah's house? Had something happened to Rin? Was she going to be next. "I don't know anything...please...let me go."

"But Sakura-chan we really need your help" Ilya's smile grew just a bit. "to find Shirou-Nii"

That made Sakura look up.

"You recognize the name right?" The little girl couldn't help to add impishly.

* * *

"Get down!" Rin tackled him, the breath leaving his lungs in a whoosh as his ribs smacked against the stone floor, feeling the brush of wind over them both as the Knight's massive lance swooped over their heads, missing them by a foot, if not less.

He heard Saber shout, and felt the stinging in his ears as the howl of rent metal forked through the air as Excalibur cut into the broad face of the knight's massive shield, leaving only a thin gouge to show for all of Sabers supernatural strength and Excalibur's power

The knight rounded on her, its massive foot coming up and then smashing back down, seeking to crush her.

Shirou's heart leapt up into his throat, standing as Saber scaled the Knight's iron body, jumping from foot to knee, then from knee to forearm, from forearm to breastplate and then finally lunging to strike at the creatures helm.

It ducked, faster than they'd expected, he could see Saber's grimace of frustration as her weapon missed its mark, leaving her hovering in the air, wide open for when the Knight brought its lance up and swung at her, its broad side smashing into Excalibur as she brought it to bear, catapulting her into the nearest wall of the courtyard.

"Saber!" He shouted, notching an arrow. This wasn't a dragon though. It wasn't a creature of flesh and blood he could distract with a lucky hit.

The whole thing was made of steel.

The arrow wouldn't do anything but he fired it anyway.

It bounce off its helmet, Rin fired off a burst of her magic, blue and spear-like, it soared straight, smashing into the Demon's armor and breaking there like water over rock.

"Well that proved to be about as useful as your arrow."

It ignored them both, advancing on Saber as his Servant began pulling herself out of the rubble, her face in that familiar tight expression he'd seen her use when they'd face Berzerker the first time.

Then with a shout, Ostrava was there, throwing his full weight into a single lunge. His runesword plunged nearly a foot into the Iron knight's heel. Slipping between the plates of armor to find purchase beneath as he twisted the weapon. Shirou saw a spray of greenish, lime mist, shoot out from the thing's heel/ankle, almost like steam.

It stumbled, a faint, ghostly sound not akin to groaning metal coming from it as Ostrava tried to dig the weapon a little deeper.

Then it kicked, like a master shooing away a pesky dog nipping at his heels, and Ostrava was sent smashing into the cobblestone steps leading to the surrounding mezzanine balcony of the courtyard.

"Well at least we know we can hurt it." Rin muttered, rushing to one side. Shirou considered following her but then thought better of it.

He instead made his way to Ostrava's sword still planted in the Demon's heel.

He rushed forward, feet pounding against the cobblestones as he moved as fast as he could.

The demon moved he gripped the weapon as it did, his entire foot lurching Shirou upwards with the force of a car before it slammed back down, making him scrape his knees as his grip on the weapon's hilt stayed firm.

"Shirou let go!" Saber yelled out to him, lunging to the side as the Demon's spear punched down where she'd been standing.

"You're gonna get yourself killed!" He heard Rin screech as she finally took notice of his absence, firing spell after spell from her fingertips, diversely firing out flames to those strange black bullets of hers, Gandr.

But he didn't let it go. With that same single minded stubbornness that he alone had he kept his grip firm, pulling and tugging at the lodged weapon.

The demon ignored him, thrusting its spear again and again, seeking out Saber.

He saw her fighting, dodging and weaving between the massive blows, barely able to gain her footing as the ground beneath her shook before having to move again. He saw her face, and he saw that same look, he focused on that same expression, she'd had that night when they'd first met Berzerker.

Fire flooded his limbs, an iron rod of heat was shoved into his spine. Prana surged through him and coiled itself through the weapon. Like water finding its way through crevices and chiseled lines, it filled the weapon, removed the flaws, filled out the missing pieces; reinforcing it.

And with a yell, rising up from his guts Shirou ripped the thing free, tearing out half the ankle with it.

The Demon toppled with a groan of sundered metal. It fell onto one knee with a crash, using its shield to hold itself upright, Shirou cursed as green, magic poured from the 'wound' like hissing steam right into his face, stinging his eyes.

The runesword thrummed in his hand, as though it had come to life on its own.

Then the demon knight turned and with a harsh smack of an edge of that massive shield over his chest Shirou was sent flying, the weapon falling from his hand and skittering along the ground.

The back of his skull smashed into the stone with a bony crack

* * *

Archer opened his eyes, feeling as though his head had just been bludgeoned against a rock.

He sighed, staring up at the ceiling, half of Rin's extensive library had already been searched through...

Now he just had to look through the other half.

He groaned, rolling his eyes as he twisted his neck, shaking off the kinks and aches. Just the thought was enough to make him yearn for his life as a Counter-guardian again. A little bit.

A very little bit.

Another concerning thing was Sakura herself. Even if Ilya got her to agree on helping them for the time being, there was no guarantee that Sakura's allegiance would not change later. Either through manipulation, or coercion. There was also the very real possibility that should Sakura indeed get herself a servant she would interfere in any attempt he'd make on Shirou's life.

Ilya's plan, sloppy and chancy as it was, was ultimately necessary and the short term gain far outweighed the long term possibilities, but that did not stop the fact that Sakura, her motivations and her vulnerabilities were a huge coin toss that he did not like.

It was wholly frustrating in every respect considering there was nothing he or anyone could really do to afirm the variables, the only thing that would ultimately matter to her was Emiya's safety.

He sighed, reaching forward to pick up another book when he heard Ilya's laughter drift in from the hallway.

He looked up, half dreading what was coming. Ilya's laughter was hardly ever good for anyone but herself, he'd learned rather quickly.

The door opened, and in walked in Ilya and the nervous looking Sakura.

"Archer." The albino girl called, grinning from ear to ear. "Sakura-chan's agreed to help us!"

He leaned forward, lacing his fingers infront of his mouth. "Joy." He drawled. Ilya's face scrunched up in frustration at his blasé attitude.

"Hey, you could at least say 'Hello' or something!"

Archer shook his head, irritated, he stood up, picking up two thick books from the table.

He marched over and nearly shoved one into Ilya's face, ignoring her dirty look before stepping close to Sakura.

She reached for the thick tome her delicate fingers wrapping around the aged leather. She tugged at it but found Archer's firm grip stopping her.

When she looked up at him, wide eyed and half frightened, Archer leaned down, a little closer. "I can guess you've agreed to help us to make sure Emiya's safe."

She nodded, her mouth opening to form the words, then hesitating for a moment before she pushed them through her lips. "If Emiya-kun needs my help then-"

"Then remember to not do anything stupid should you ever get another servant of your own." He interrupted, his voice as harsh as a lash. "If you do. Then Emiya dies next time I see him."

She paled, her body going stiff as a board and Archer shot Ilya a warning look that had her shutting up as well before he let go of the book. Marching back to his seat, he let himself fall into the cushion.

Opening a book, he looked at the girls over its edge. "By the way. Hello."

* * *

Excalibur cleaved through the Demon's armor with a sound of screeching steel, releasing green, steam like magic from the thing's new chest wound. Her arms screamed at her, the fibers of muscle, super-humanly strong straining, protesting against the uncommon exertion that it took to leave a proportionately sized scratch on its massive chest armor.

It fell back, cradling its wounded midsection with something that could almost pass as bewilderment and Saber landed on the wall of the courtyard only to jump off it before gravity took its toll lunging once more for the demons head.

The lance came up, faster than something its size had any right to be, steel met steel as the creature parried her aside with sheer brute force, the blade of Excalibur leaving a horrid gouge across the Lance's surface as Saber was sent crashing down to the earth, her feet barely managing to catch her and hold her upright.

She watched Ostrava, his blade back in his hand, hacking and hammering at the Demon's legs, narrowly missing the creatures retaliatory kicks and stomps, looking as though it was trying to stop down a bug.

* * *

Standing on the surrounding wall, Rin cursed slapping Shirou once again- "Damnit you idiot open your eyes."

He wasn't bleeding through his skull that she noticed, nor anywhere else save a few scrapes and bruises but that had been a seriously bad hit. She'd seen Shirou's miraculous recovery when Berserker had nearly ripped him in two but she wasn't sure if such a thing would happen twice, or if it could cure brain damage.

But, to her relief she watched the red head's eyes flutter open, dazed like a drunk, when he spoke it was a croak. Like his mouth was filled with cotton balls or something. "R-Rin?"

There was a crash, a loud one, and Rin felt the floor shake beneath her, toppling her on her ass before she leaned up, looking down to see a massive trench running the length of the courtyard, from where the Demon stood to a spot where she could only assume Saber had been standing.

The massive Knight reared back again, taking firm hold of his lance and Rin could taste magic in the air as the spear glowed from tip to tip before it made the motion to throw, the Lance's entire magical body exploding outwards, like some massive arrow of magic, even as the lance itself stayed in the demon's hand.

Stonework and mortar was ripped free of the ground, like someone had taken a plowing shovel to it.

Saber moved fast, rushing to the side as the magic exploded again, rocking the ground out from underneath Rin. The brunette cursed, looking to Shirou she grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her, to make sure he heard her. "Stay here and don't do anything stupid!"

She left then, running around the overhead walkway to stand behind the Demon, who swept his lance around himself in yet another attempt to strike at Ostrava, while he batted Saber away with his massive slab of a shield.

Prana surged through Tohsaka's body, the magic circuits within her opening up.

She focused, the new spell coming to her as though it was the most familiar, natural one that she knew, she wondered at that, as her magic already half formed the required spell before she'd even thought it.

Like a reflex.

Was that the demon's influence? Did it mean she'd mastered the spell? Was it this world? This place? Was it because of who they were facing.

The blast flew free from her fingers, smashing into the crown of its iron helm and Tohsaka watched it stumble with satisfaction, shaking its head as more green magic was pushed free of the small hole the spell had bore into its impact point.

It rounded on her, the tip of its lance seeking her out and Rin dived back as stone and mortar was ripped out from under the spot she'd been standing, the speartip rising through the walkway's floor.

There was a screech of sundered steel and Rin risked a glance as she stood, watching as Saber leapt off the massive Knight's elbow, green magic indicating the spot where she'd driven Excalibur through the armor as Ostrava's reinforced rune-sword hacked away at its ankles and feet, now a multitude of tiny pinpricks leaking green magic.

Rin watched the thing pull away, its shield rising to protect it as its lance arm huddled close to the main body, like a wounded animal, and before she could voice her thoughts Saber did it for her.

"Keep attacking!" The Servant shouted. "Push now while we have the advantage."

And Rin ran, circling around the walkway to get behind the beast again as Ostrava and Saber rushed at it from the ground.

Saber was the first to reach it, unsurprising, skirting around its clumsy lance swing she jumped, her sword seeking out the back of its right knee, and cleaving it cleanly.

The beast fell, down onto one knee, its shield slamming into the floor as it used the pommel of its lance to try and keep itself upright.

Rin struck out next, her full instinct driving her thoughts before she could formulate them properly.

A blast of magic ripped straight through the Demon's fingers, rending the lance from its grip and sending it nearly crashing face down onto the ground.

Ostrava ran forward, through the upturned dust and bits of debris, it ignored the lance as it fell at his side, ignored the Demon's massive arm moving as he jumped, over it, his feet pumping, heaving breaths burning through his lungs as he lunged armor and all, and plunged his sword straight into the eyehole slit at the Demon's head.

It roared, pulling back as green magic _exploded_ from its helmet openings, both hands, damaged and undamaged reaching for its head as though trying to claw the blade out as its body glowed pearl white for a moment. Shimmering like diamond sunlight before vanishing completely.

Completely...save for the silver grey soul hovering in the air.

Rin straightened, wondering if she was gonna get tossed halfway across the courtyard like before when the Soul shot out, whipping through the air and right into the small mezanine room she'd left Shirou in.

The three combatants shared an instantaneous look, half worry, half bewilderment before all of them began running towards the room.

Before they could do more than take a handful

of steps however, a sound made Rin's insides drop out from her gut, fear rising in her throat.

The flapping of wings.

"No...No no not this shi-"

With a crash of broken stone and tile-work the dragon fell onto one of the building roofs. Its clawed feet half scrambling for purchase before finding it, digging into cut stone and carved wood as it peered down at the three of them.

It roared, a piercing screech ripping through her ears before it pushed off the roof and flew down, fire brimming at its lips and teeth.

* * *

Shirou hauled himself up to his feet, his knees shaking as every muscle in his body shook with weakness, he could feel the Demon's soul within him. Its power rushing through his magic circuits as though they were live wires, its foreign presence settling in like an intruder in his body. Feeling alien and wrong. The Phalanx was a young demon. This wasn't.

He looked down, finding his bow lying on the stone floor. Did Rin bring it up.

He heard the hissing, loud and overpowering, like a sound caught in a closed room, Shiou reached down, picking up the bow as he stumbled outside.

The wingbeats slams a gust of wind and upturned dust into his face the moment he steps out, grabbing onto the archway to keep himself from falling.

He looks up, to where the dragon hovers over the courtyard, breathing fire down into it like some massive furnace.

His heart jumps into his throat, worry burning fear through his body.

_Rin! Saber!_

The beast lands, its wings folded now to form claws that tether it upright, Shirou feels every muscle in his body clench up again in an excruciating spasm that doubles him over. The red headed teen sees Saber swipe at the Dragon's neck. Dark boiling blood rushed out of the new wound where the ancient blade had managed to carve through its impossibly tough scales.

It pulled back, rearing up and snapping at her, its tail whipping out behind him, nearly striking Ostrava had the Boletarian not ducked at the last moment.

She moved and slashed, moved and slashed, he saw a bolt of magic shoot out from somewhere below him, striking the dragon's side but barely even looking like it scratched at his hide.

The dragon focused on Saber, fire teeth and claws, a ton of muscle and raw power focusing on his servant as it breathed, the inferno of its breath blackening the stonework as everyone rushed up the stairs to the battlements above to escape the infernal heat and powerful fire, nothing could survive that!

The beast took to the skies then, its leathery wings unfolding and lifting it as Rin appeared infron't of him. Wild and frantic.

"What the hell are you doing idiot!? Move!"

She grabs at his arm, pulls at him to get him away as the beast starts to rise. He sees Saber on the other side of the battlements, Ostrava as well, the ruddy glow of the fire casting strange heat shimmers in the air.

Rin pulls at him some more but he doesn't move. One hand grips at his bow, his fingers aching, he hears Saber shouting at him, screaming something from the other side of this expanse.

But he's been here before. He's done this...seen it. Like the half dimmed memory of a distant dream.

_The magic rushes through his circuits. Demanding its use, taking a shape of its own like water running down a hill. It will fall through whatever path it wishes._

_'Projection...start...'_

_He can see it in his mind, see it but not see it. Like an image slowly taking clarity through dirty glass._

_**'Judging concept of creation-'**_

_**'Hypothesizing on structure'**_

_The Dragon rises, its inhuman, searing eyes finding him in a moment. Its nostrils flaring with the smell of magic._

_**'Duplicating material composition'**_

___**'Imitating the skill of its making'**_

_He remembers the words. Remembers Archer's words.__"Visualize____ what can defeat your enemy Emiya Shirou."_

_And its a solid thing now, taking shape and form._

_**'Sympathizing with the experience of its growth'**_

___**'Reproducing the accumulated years'**_

_Almost._

___**'Excelling every manufacturing process.'**_

There...he sees it, its in his hand!

_**'Trace, On!'**_

_The Demon's lance, it takes shape, like shards of crystal shivering into form, each individual shard becoming a piece of the greater whole, merging, and he feels the Demon's power resonate within him._

___'Visualize what can defeat your enemy...'_

_It shifts, moves, in his hand, becoming something else, thinner lighter, the lance molds itself into an arrow, its magic compressed into this new form, glowing white._

_The fires rise up from the beasts throat again, billowing out between its teeth like an ancient kiln._

_The arrow notches, and Shirou can feel his grasp on its form slipping, like sand through his fingers, its magic seeping out between the splintering cracks in his creation, ever widening weaker and weaker._

_He pulls back on the bow string as the dragon breathes._

Then, Shirou's world is flames.

_Flames that burn, consume, swallow. He smells burning wood, smoke he can't breathe. The fire is everywhere. _

_He hears the screams. He hears Rin and Saber screaming. Did the flames get them to? Did they burn them like they burned everything that night?_

_He releases the arrow._

* * *

And high, high above, amidst the ruin of a shattered throne something opened its eyes.

* * *

Well here we are, hope you all enjoyed this Chapter, Shirou has done his first tracing finally, we'll expand more on this in the next few chapters of course.

Anyway hope you all enjoyed it, leave your thoughts or questions about the chapter in a review thanks.


	8. Chapter 8

The Night sky blinks its starry veil down at them, the only beauty in the desiccated corpse that was once the crown jewel of the north. Boletaria.

Ostrava sighs, shifting his grip on his sword, armor stashed down below, it was risky to walk without armor but the noise at this dead hour would just be too much, he can see and clearly hear a group of dreglings nearly three hundred paces down the road, grunting and groaning in eachothers faces as they milled around in search of something.

He kept to the shadows of the dead city, making certain nothing else was approaching as best he could before re-checking the tripwires and trap mechanisms. The girl, Rin, had placed runic magics on the ground as well. All n all, this place was as secure as it was going to be for the night.

* * *

Rin opened her eyes, shivering in the drafty cold, as she woke from her light sleep, before she rolled over, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of this place before she finally settled her gaze on Saber, who cradled Shirou's head in her lap.

"How's he doing?"

Saber looked up, her green eyes barely distinguishable in the darkness. "His burns are healing."

The brunette nodded. After that...incident...with Berserker, she had little doubts that Shirou could heal from almost anything, though they still weren't sure why, or how limited it could be. For a while there, just the simple fact that it was real _dragon-fire _had been enough to make her bite her nails off in concern. But a few hours in, what burns had covered his arms, and face were already fading away.

Good.

Now all they had to concern themselves with was the bad one across his torso.

The door creaked, and both she and Saber were instantly tense, their eyes flying over to the wooden entrance.

When Ostrava's blond hair was silhouetted by the moonlit backdrop of the house's window, both of them eased.

The Boletarian closed the door, bathing the room in inky blackness again. He shuffled forward, and Rin could barely see him, only followed his progress by the vague outline of his body and the sounds of his feet. "How is he?"

"Better." Saber answered simply.

Though she couldn't see it, she could almost feel Ostrava shaking his head. "What magic makes his wounds heal so fast? Could it be the soul of the demon he absorbed?"

"Might be." Rin answered before Saber could get a word in edgewise. "He's never managed to heal this quickly before."

She heard Ostrava sitting down, a shuffle of clothes. "Well, the sooner we can find our way back to the Nexus, the sooner we can find our answers."

"Speaking of which." She said. "Any theories on why the Archstones aren't working?"

Ostrava shrugged, though she barely saw it. After the defeat of the Tower Knight Demon, and the Dragon right after it, the Archstone formed in the center of the courtyard, but when they'd tried using it, the blade-like device remained inert, useless. Even backtracking towards the archstone they'd used to arrive in the first place yielded nothing. "Perhaps Emiya's injuries would prevent him from entering the Nexus?"

"I was injured when I got out of that church."

Ostrava seemed like he was ready to answer when a shuffling outside made each one of them tense, muscles coiling tighter than a taut bowstring as they listened to the sounds creeping in through the stone walls.

It sounded like moaning, shuffling footsteps and such. The three listened quietly for several minutes before it finally quieted, whatever it was decided to venture off.

"Let's get some rest as best we can." The Boletarian said, drawing his blade close as she saw him lay down.

_'Right. That should work out just splendidly.' _She thought before she too lay back, turning her eyes back to Shirou and Saber.

* * *

_He was back in this place. Formless, ever stretching._

_The demon was here too. _

_The same. It was the same as the last. But different. In the sense of ice equating to water._

_He could feel it there, right at the edge of his perception. But also right here, right infront of his face like some out of place object just...planted there._

_He tried to remember the maiden's words. Tried to remember what she'd told him, how he'd done this before. He could feel the things tendrils, poking, prodding, trying to find some spot that it could touch at his mind._

_He fought back with limbs he didn't fully know he had, in ways he didn't realize. One thought rushing through whatever was left of his consciousness. 'Don't let it in.'_

_It grew angry, its touches once nudges of sensation were now burning, crushing, its prodding now a boring pressure across the plane of thought._

_Then the pain faded there was a hand, familiar, armored, bathed in ethereal white. He opened his eyes, trying to blink through whatever haze had fallen over him._

_And the knight was there, the ghost knight he and Rin had followed when they first arrived. The one killed protecting her his hand extended, welcoming. Calling him to take his offer of help._

_Shirou grasped his hand, heard his voice like some half gone whisper in the wind._

_**'Let me guide you.'**_

* * *

When Shirou opened his eyes again, he wasn't sure for the first few seconds if he'd actually done so, plunged into the inky black of the cellar they were resting in.

It was Saber's hair he saw first, and through that, he managed to catch the frame of her face.

"Shirou?" He heard her venture. He opened his mouth, only for a ragged cough to escape his lips the moment air touched the back of his throat, irritating flesh that still remembered the heat of fire and the acridity of smoke.

He coughed and hacked, trying to get himself under control again before he heard Saber speak.

"Shirou...don't ever be so stupid again."

The words wouldn't come, only more bitter coughing, so he nodded as best he could, barely managing a strangled 'Sorry' before forced down the coughs.

"Good." She pressed him down against her lap again, one hand on his shoulder, the other bracing herself upright. "Get back to sleep. You'll need the rest."

He wanted to tell her he wasn't tired. Wanted to ask her what exactly had happened to the dragon? The Demon Soul. Why were they still here and not in the Nexus?

But like an insisting friend, sleep did beckon him, his body still assimilating what it had taken, making it work for him as it should. The Knight, patiently holding back the power of this demon. He may have been able to resist if not of the image of the Knight, when he closed his eyes. Still beckoning him forward, closer. Offering guidance.

He soon slept but did not rest.

* * *

When Shirou woke up, it was to the sight of Rin hovering over him.

"Tohsakah?"

"Yeah. Its me." Shoving a canteen of water in his face she added a quick "Drink."

He took the canteen, eying it for a moment, wondering just how unfiltered this was before he remembered that this was probably as good as it was gonna get and he began chugging the cool liquid.

When he pulled it free from his lips, panting he looked around the dimly lit room. "Where's Saber and Ostrava?"

"Scouting. For lack of a better term."

He nodded, worry tugging at his chest. But if anyone could defend themselves, Saber could, he took some small comfort in that indisputable fact at least.

Then he noticed Rin was staring.

He turned to her, eyes wide open in askance.

Her lips pursed, a strange expression, almost displeased crossed her face. "What was that yesterday?"

It took him a moment before he remembered. Fire, magic surging beneath his skin, taking shape, like molten metal cast into a mold. "I-I don't know."

"You don't know?" She asked, incredulous. "You don't _know? _Shirou, you copied that Demon's _weapon_!" She was very nearly hissing at him.

At his silence, she sighed, rubbing her temples. "Look...this isn't the time for this, I know. But the moment we get back to the Nexus we have to figure this out. If you can..._when_-" She amended, glaring at him as though anything less than success would be considered unacceptable. "-you learn how to do that again, at will-"

The door opened, flooding the room with daylight, revealing Ostrava standing there, Saber keeping watch just a few paces behind him. "Come. There may not be much time."

* * *

The sun's light punched through the shadows of Boletaria's streets like spears through wicker.

Ostrava led the way, his knowledge of the city allowing him to wind them through the labyrinthine back alleys and narrow corridors, avoiding entire hordes of madmen that patrolled the street, and keeping out of sight of those patrolling high on the rooftops, the ones who still held some semblance of intelligence in their insanity addled minds.

Saber was at the rear of the group, between them was Rin, and the still very pale looking Shirou.

The red headed youth did his best to keep up, but anyone could see the effort was proving far more taxing than it should have been. Ostrava was more than happy to attribute it to his injuries.

He did not want to think of the alternative. On the possibility, that here, as they wandered ever deeper into the colorless fog, that the Demon Soul, the untamed power he now had resting somewhere inside him was manifesting the further they ventured into this place.

He didn't want to think about what that would mean for them here. Or for the two women with them. They both seemed to care for Emiya deeply. Or at least he thought so.

Before he could contemplate this thought further however, he stopped just before rounding the next corner.

He leaned forward, hoping, not for the first time, that his armor wouldn't catch the light and alert some madman.

But he didn't find any madmen here, instead, he found a corpse strewn plaza.

Crumbled, broken wagons were lined across every entrance, half destroyed, cobbled defensive fences and crates piled on high where these last few men had made some final stand against the demons and the soul starved.

He stepped forward, the men were days dead, their skin pale and beginning to rot, the stink was almost enough to make him gag, after he'd long since become desensitized to such.

The others followed him into the plaza, Rin and Shirou looking as ill as the dead, only Saber mannaged to keep her composure.

"They were surrounded." She said.

Ostrava found himself nodding. "Yes...they must have been trying to evacuate..." He looked up, finding a dead woman's sightless eyes peering up at him from her place beside a half burnt wagon. "While protecting civilians." He looked about, only the corpses of soldiers and dregs were strewn about. "They must have found a way to escape."

"Or they were just protecting a noble and his riches." Rin said, drawing a sharp look from him. "What. Its true. They may have been using the wagons to bring food or something but this many wagons? While half the city is going crazy? I'm surprised they even made it this far. Peasants wouldn't have the money to afford one wagon let alone four."

Even if she was right, the knowledge still stung. To think some noblemen would have wasted valuable lives trying to defend himself and what belonging's he'd placed in these carts. He preferred his version.

That meant that someone besides them might still be alive in this blasted city.

"Guys!"

Immediately, their attention was drawn to Shirou, still looking gaunt and weak, the red heads eyes never the less were looking up the ramp like steps of Boletaria's main street.

Where nearly a dozen soldiers and a fat, black faced...thing were walking down towards them, weapons at the ready.

The thing, dressed in finery and holding a leather rack grinned down at them, its split lips oozing out dark blood. "Heh heh hehehe." It laughed before gesturing forward, each of the soul starved soldiers charging down the ramp a moment later, bellowing out war cries as they raised sword, mace and halberd.

* * *

Sitting atop a shattered throne the monster allowed the briefest twitch of his finger.

* * *

And like some strange bloom, the rage flew from Ostrava, rising up from his body until he saw red, too quick to control, and too overwhelming to comprehend anything but the hatred he felt for these things that now came for him.

Ostrava got to his feet with a snarl, drawing his runesword and smacking it against his shield. "Come on then! I am Ostrava of Boletaria and you shall feel the last blade of this once great city in your throat, thrall of demons!"

Racing up the stairs to meet them, Ostrava was heedless of the others cries to stop, all he saw was the servants of the creatures that had brought down his once great and magnificent city. Toppled its glimmering spires and despoiled its once rich repertoire of knowledge, light and beauty.

He would have the vengeance each citizen of Boletaria deserved.

He cut open the first man that stumbled within reach, ducking beneath a wild mace and cleaving open his stomach, his blood spilling onto the stone steps as his shield deflected the hammering blow of a sword.

An arrow lodged itself in another man's throat, he had only the faintest notion that Emiya was the only one with a bow before he pivoted and plunged his runesword into another man's chest.

Then Saber was there, her own, magical blade cutting through whatever madmen had the misfortune to get in its path, the smell of magic managed to break through the stink of blood as black bullets were fired from Rin's fingers and now all four of them were leaving piles of dead across the Boletarian cobblestones, as the soldier's pressed on, heedless, fresh blood spilling onto desiccated streets.

Ostrava's eyes saw the fat one, still smiling, laughing madly as he turned, running back up the steps, leaving his men to die.

With a roar of anger he cut down the last man. "Get back here!" barely even taking a moment to breathe before sprinting up the steps, his heavy armor barely encumbering in his haste.

He heard the others calling his name, saw the fat man round the next corner, he ran faster, knowing that his quarry was running now across the great bridge, the last divider between the King's tower and the city of Boletaria itself.

He turned, and was wholly unsurprised to see men waiting for him, crossbows and spears in hand, trying to get themselves into some crude battle line as the fat man waddled through the lot of them.

He raised his shield, the runes easily deflecting the crossbow bolt that had come flying towards his head before he rushed the nearest attacker.

The man barely had time to scream before Ostrava's sword was through his guts, poking out the other side of his body. A spearman approached his side, intent on driving the tip of his weapon into the princeling's exposed ribs when his hands were sliced off at the wrists. His spear and severed appendages clattering to the floor as he howled in shocked agony.

Saber's sword cut down another crossbow bolt, and then another before fluidly slicing off the spearman's head when another of Shirou's arrows flew through the air, striking a crosbowman in the juncture of neck and shoulder, spinning him about completely before he hit the ground.

* * *

When Biorr woke, it was to a wet, dirt smeared beard and the stink of his own breath against the floor of the dungeon.

He groaned, rising to a sitting position, trying to piece together what had happened since he was last conscious.

The fat, dead, heap of disgusting madman sprawled in a pool of his own filth just a few feet away from his door told him that he had not infact been dreaming though.

He smiled.

The Prince. Ostrava, the fifth son of the great King was alive! He was hunting demons with others who had yet to loose their minds in this place.

"Hah hah!" His cry of exultation echoed through the whole dungeon, standing up he teetered and wobbled for a moment, half drunken legs scarcely picking him up before he regained his strength. The screech of the dungeon door prying open beneath his harsh pull loud to his ears but ohh so very musical.

He glanced around, easily finding the water barrel, he made his way closer, washing off the filth from his face and the foul taste in his mouth. He'd have to clean himself properly later. But for now, the eldest of Boletaria's Twin Fangs needed to do something much more important.

He needed to find his Armor.

More than that. He needed to find his weapon.

Even more than that. He needed to find his future King!

* * *

Rin knew something was happening.

She could feel that something was happening.

Even as Ostrava and Saber cut through the enemies waylaying themselves on the bridge, and Shirou occasionally managed to fire an arrow with a surprising amount of accuracy to hit someone, despite his rapid breaths as he cringed from the pain, she _knew _that this was not right. It was too easy.

Something was pushing them forward, egging them on. Ostrava was fighting like a madman, heedless, and Saber was doing her best to protect him in his bullheaded charge.

This wasn't right.

Ostrava pushed straight through, cutting down five or so men and one knight armored in black as Saber continued to fight the dozen or so that were left, rushing straight through to make it to the fat creature that waddled through his men, still laughing, gloating.

And the moment the gates of the citadel opened, revealing that now dreadfully familiar wall of luminescent fog, that the fat man walked through, Rin knew that they were walking straight into a trap.

"Stop him!" She shouted! "Saber don't let him walk into the fog!"

In a blur of speed, six more men were dead, and Saber's blue dress was nearly bloodsoaked as she danced through the melee, trying to stop Ostrava in time.

But it was too late, and heedless of whatever danger lay ahead, the Boletarian plunged straight through the fog.

* * *

The moment Ostrava entered the colorless fog, he saw the finely dressed abomination standing infront of him, smiling a leering, eerie smile, standing in the Knight's atrium, the monument erected to the first hundred knights of Boletaria, their monolithic statues standing as sentinels over the Citadel even in death.

He gripped his sword tightly, marching forward as the fat creature chuckled again.

Then its blood washed over the ground.

He had to blink once to fully register what had happened.

One moment it was standing there.

The next, a sword was poking out of its distended stomach, hot blood spraying out as Ostrava saw something else emerge from the fog.

It lifted its victim, fully impaled on a beautifully crafted sword, its tapered, jeweled handle gripped in an armored gauntlet that was attached to a knight, twice Ostrava's size.

With a flick of its wrist, the fat man was thrown clean off the blade, its entire length glowing with magic now.

Ostrava readied his shield.

And the demon took notice.

All at once, it was as though the world was turned on its axis, the sky became the ground and the ground became the sky, a mounting pressure against his skull made him feel as though he would pass out, or vomit, the energy brushed against his armor, the runes on his shield and sword glowed white hot as they tried to fight off whatever magic this thing was bringing to bear with its mere _presence_.

All at once Ostrava knew his folly.

This was no simple demon. Like the phalanx, or even the Giant Tower Knight, they had fought and overcome.

This...this beast was an entirely different monster.

Ostrava now stood before nothing less than an Archdemon.

The Boletarian raised his shield...

For all the good it did him.

The demon stepped forward, swallowing the twenty meter distance in less than an eyeblink, his sword already shining with magic, it fell onto the shield, raised by pure reflex.

Then promptly shattered the arm behind it.

Ostrava screamed, a gouge carving itself across the rune shield with the sound of rent metal and the glimmering shards of sundered magic. The brace of his forearm cleaved open beneath it by eldritch energies, the bone beneath that snapping like plywood, the raw force of the blow dislocating his arm at the shoulder and snapping the limb at the elbow as well in one strike. The impact of his armored limb, with the added weight of his rune shield slamming into the ribs of his chestplate with the force of a warhammer.

The Boletarian prince fell onto his back, his shield arm cradled to his chest with the fall, throbbing with unimaginable pain, even with the surge of fear fueled adrenalin rushing through his veins.

He struck out with his sword, the enchanted blade seeking out the creature's stomach only for the awkward thrust to be parried aside with laughable ease, knocking the weapon from Ostrava's grip, before its own blade rose and fell, ready to cut the young prince in two.

Ostrava flinched his eyes closing for a split second as his ears were made to ring with an unbelievably loud _clash_ of steel against steel

He opened his eyes, finding Saber standing over him, her arms and shoulders visibly shaking beneath the strain as she pushed her blade against the Demon's.

Ostrava opened his mouth to speak but all that came through was a strangled croak, his whole limb flaring up in pain as his weight shifted, the armor and shield strapped to his arm pressing down on the point of fracture.

A hand was suddenly clamped around his arm, the pain nearly made the Boletarian vomit as Shirou literally dragged him out from under the two combatants, the youth's bow was slung across his back and Ostrava felt another pair of arms wrap themselves beneath his good arm, pulling him away even faster towards the edge of the fog!

Colors swirled in his sight, an apple lodged in his throat, he tried to breathe, fumbling for the helmets' grille visor, trying to lift it.

If he could just-

* * *

"Dammit he's going into shock!" Rin shouted, but Shirou found himself flinching more from the horrible _**shriek**_that ripped through the air behind him, making his ears ring and his teeth grind together.

He snapped his head back, looking over his shoulder as another inhuman howl, like the very air was being _**ripped **_in two lanced into his skull.

The swords were no longer deadlocked.

Saber's weapon and the Demon's blade smashed into each other with bone jarring force, every impact screeching a high pitched _wail_ across their senses, every blow, rattling his heart in his chest like a shockwave.

"Shirou help me!"

He snapped his eyes back around to Rin, who was negotiating Ostrava to lay flat on his back, pushing and pulling against his armor covered weight to set him down as gently as she could.

He stepped over, hands held out, unsure, half frozen as he tried to ignore the buffeting airwaves that servant and Demon were setting off by just _swinging their swords_ "What do you want me to do?" He yelled over the cacophony.

"Grab his legs. Lift em. We have to keep the blood in his head as much as we can!"

Shirou wasn't a doctor. He didn't have the faintest clue as to how that might help but with a grunt of effort he grabbed Ostrava's ankles and lifted the armored limbs up to about waist height.

Rin leaned over the Boletarian. "Ostrava! Ostrava look at me!"

"La-lady."

"Yeah yeah its me lady Tohsakah I need you to listen! You have to stay awake do you hear me!"

* * *

Saber grit her teeth, locking her legs as the thing _pushed_.

It didn't have that monster Berserker's raw, inhuman levels of strength, even by servant's standards. The wind from his weapon swings did not cut into her flesh.

But he wasn't exactly lacking in that department either.

He towered over her, the same height as the aforementioned servant, not including the spike on his helmet, his armor gleamed white, ivory and gold, the thin slit hiding whatever face lay beneath it.

The weapon in his hand glowed with blue magic, she could see the weapon itself, nearly seven feet long from pommel to tip, though the magic coating it lengthened the blade to the proportions of a street lamp, even for his height it was ridiculously long. It should have been awkward, unwieldy, but the thing infront of her swung his weapon with brutal ease that was not allowing her a leg up in this fight.

She backed away, feet gliding over perfectly cut stonework, slipping past one of the statues as the thing swung.

She expected the broad stone of the statue would give the weapon some pause, but the demon's sword cut through the three feet of dark granite like it wasn't even there

She ducked, feeling the brush of air kiss at the back of her neck before she grabbed at her weapon and swung, from the ground to the sky, looking to cleave her enemy in two.

Then, in a flash, her blade was intercepted, the glowing demon sword once more between Excalibur and its intended target, she looked down, following the length of the weapon that should not have found a way to stop her, considering its length, only to see a good chunk of its body vanishing into the stone at their feet, a smoking groove carved into the ground.

Then, it gripped the hilt of its weapon in both hands and swung.

Saber wasn't sure if it was his speed or his strength, or more likely a combination of both, but the next thing she knew she was rising through the air as if she'd been sitting in the cradle of a catapult, the Demon's sword now pointing up to the sky, a trench having been carved out of where its sword had ripped itself out of the ground in an explosive shower of mortar and rock.

Her feet struck out, finding the stone of the castle walls, before she jumped back down, gravity and her own strength bringing her speed as she let out a battle cry, the weight of Excalibur a familiar tool in her hands.

* * *

High in his tower, amidst the stones of a broken throne, an awareness focused.

* * *

Saber's blade smashed against the demon's with enough force to make her own limbs shake, forcing it to take a step back as the metals screeched and sparked.

She grit her teeth, staring up at the much taller enemy as he pushed against her.

_Armor black as midnight, shrouded in shadow, eyes glowing red beneath the slit of the helm._

She gasped, blinking away the vision, reeling back as though she'd been struck she barely found the presence of mind to dodge the sweep of the demon's sword.

_A howl of unholy rage, the madness enhancement activating, prana **seeping** off of him as he attacks her._

She slid back, slipping through the monolithic statues, weaving between them as the demon stepped forward, clutching at her skull as new pain blossomed from phantomine memories.

_'Its not real.'_ She thinks..._**knows**_. _'Its not real! Its not him!'_

She grips Excalibur, purging her mind free of its visions, fighting whatever was assaulting her thoughts as the demon cut his way through the statues like some hiker cutting his way through the underbrush.

She rushed forward, with all her speed, slipping beneath a weapon swing and retaliating in turn, Excalibur slicing for its ribs.

The demon skirted aside with a deft sidestep, almost mocking in how casual it seemed before it pivoted on its heel, slicing at her with a backhanded stroke.

She turned, steel meeting steel, as she parried, pushing the blade overhead before she attacked again.

* * *

"Shit." Rin cursed.

"Shit? What shit?" Shirou asked, the first beginnings of panic starting to rise in his chest. "What's wrong Tohsaka!?"

"Shut up dammit and help me get this crap off of him!" She shouted, pulling the Boletarian's helmet free with a grunt of effort, and beginning to work on the buckles to his shoulder and arm guards.

Why oh why in the _**hell**_ didn't she practice more healing magic!?

Because god knows the normal means were proving to be somewhere between inefficient and _fucking_ _useless!_

* * *

Sakura gnawed on her lower lip as she made her way back to her home.

To say that they day had been strange would be an understatement

She was not stupid, or clueless. She knew about the grail war...the servants.

She'd suspected...she'd suspected ever since she saw Saber for the very first time but she'd been hoping...

She clenched her fist, an anger brewing in her chest. Impotent feelings welling up and dissipating.

He'd told Tohsakah-sempai hadn't he?

Why couldn't he tell her too? Why couldn't he trust her enough for that?

The world considered the Matou line dead to magic...they were right for the most part but Shirou should have still...

He should have still told her before telling Tohsakah-sempai.

_'Maybe Tohsakah just figured it out?'_ Her mind provided.

She gnawed at her lip again. In the end, it didn't matter if he told her anything or not. Shirou was missing now and Shinji along with Rider were dead.

It was somewhat ironic that she felt _more_ at the fact that she _didn't_ feel much of anything regarding his death.

What mattered now was finding a way to get Shirou-sempai back.

Her feet stopped, glancing up, she was only half surprised to find herself standing infron't of the Emiya household, her feet carrying her here almost through habit.

She stepped forward, her hands finding the key that she never used, nearly knocking on the door from habit before she realized no one would answer her.

She opened the door moonlight cascading into the dark hallway before she flipped the switch.

She turned and closed the door, standing at the cusp of the entrance for the longest time.

What was she doing here?

She didn't know really, she didn't know why she came...why she was standing here or why she was taking off her coat and putting it on the peg.

She did know that she didn't want to go back to the Matou house.

She had not seen Zouken for days. Often times she didn't but not even Shinji's death, which she was _sure_ he knew about drew him out of his room.

She left food every morning, and returned every day to see the tray empty.

She didn't want to go back to that place. More a prison than a home.

Even the mere memory of Shirou was more welcoming.

* * *

"Duck!"

Shirou barely even looked as he threw his shoulder to the side. Rolling the bow on his back fell free from where he'd hooked it behind one shoulder the Demon's massively long blade cut the air where his head had been while Saber jumped over it, landing behind their adversary.

The redhead scrambled to his feet as the demon turned to face Saber again, its blade once more at the ready, focusing all of its attention on her.

Shirou reached for an arrow, finding most of the quivers contents all over the floor now. He paused, cursing before looking around for anything else he could use.

He saw Ostrava's blade not three feet away, scrambling, the youth grabbed it, the weapon scraping off the stone as he armed himself with the runic weapon.

The demon straightened, its head turning ever so slightly.

Saber saw it. "Shirou look out!"

By the time Shirou even looked up the demon was already on top of him.

Then Saber was there, her weapon held awkwardly to stop the blow, not even having the time to brace herself as she stopped moving, the Demon's might drove the edge of his gleaming blade down, pushing through Saber's hasty defense to find purchase in her shoulder.

The blood was bright red and hot, splashing against Shirou's face as the Demon's foot lashed out, catching Saber in the chest and sending her smashing through another of the statues.

"Sa-" Shirou stopped, falling flat on his back to avoid the sword seeking to remove the burden of his head atop his shoulders, he swung the sword, same as Ostrava did before him, the Demon didn't even bother with the pretense of blocking, the magical sword doing little more than scratching at his armor.

It swung and Shirou rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the gleaming edge before a bolt of magic struck the demon at the side of its helmeted face.

It reeled, more shocked than anything else it seemed as it turned to face Rin through the nebulous remains of whatever magic had struck it.

Clear across the mausoleum, behind some of the last remaining intact statues, Rin smirked, though the unease still broke through the fragile veneer of confidence. "Yeah that's right!" She taunted.

Shirou stood, taking a tighter hold of the rune-blade, channeling prana through it like he did before, reinforcing the weapon as Saber picked herself up, one arm hanging uselessly at her side.

There was a sound, armored footsteps and each of them threw a look towards the entrance of this place as an armored behemoth made his way through the fog.

Biorr smirked, his massive greatsword resting over his shoulder. "You need some help?"

* * *

_'Useless, useless, useless!'_

They were all useless, all pathetic, especially the sniveling, craven boy who called himself his grandson.

_Useless!_

He'd given the fool boy everything, bound a servant to him, one he was unworthy of, given him every tool to win this worthless parade of clowns and the sniveling, inept _parasite_ hadn't even managed to kill one stunted Servant and even more useless master.

But he was not out of this war yet. No. This was hardly ideal but Zouken Matou had not cut his way through life on ideal circumstances.

* * *

"**For Boletariaaaa!**"

Biorr's greatsword fell onto the demons with the power of a rampaging bull. Forged beneath the fires of Stone Fang during the last war with the demons in ages long past, it was a weapon passed down from generation through generation of the Twin Fangs along with its sister blade. Ancient, soul art magic had crafted this weapon to battle the demons and it sang now with tapped power as it found its true prey once again with a shower of magical discharge.

The demon pushed him back with a shove, the weight of his armor and Biorr's natural strength all but meaningless before the demon's own physical might

Bior staggered, knowing that the only reason he wasn't cut in two outright was because of the woman beside him drawing most of the demon's attention as he was forced to block and parry her furious assault.

He joined in once more, his blade falling like a hammer against the already harried defenses.

Another bolt of magic brought the first real blow against their enemy!

Excalibur struck home, as the demon flinched from Rin's dead on attack, blinding him for the instant Saber needed to bury her weapon's body almost a foot into its stomach.

It lurched forward, groaning, staring down almost in shock at its own wound.

The King of Knights felt her vision bleed, the armor once more becoming pitch black, the slate grey mausoleum becoming the black of night-lit city streets red, hateful eyes staring back at her.

She gnashed her teeth and pushed harder.

She saw Biorr raise up his weapon, and Shirou moving to attack from behind with Ostrava's confiscated runesword as Rin, looking pale, now tried to summon up more Prana for one more spell.

The demon's body glowed, and for half a moment Saber believed that it was about to die like the last when it suddenly exploded.

She held her ground, digging her feet as best she could, as she saw the others thrown away. Biorr's armored body falling flat on his back, grunting and cursing as he tried to lift himself like some overturned turtle while Rin was slammed against the wall along with Shirou.

The demon's eyes found hers, burning an ethereal blue beneath the slit visor of his helm, it grabbed hold of Excalibur, fingers coiling around the invisible blade as he brought his sword up for another swing.

With brutal strength Saber rent the blade free one handed, disemboweling the creature and cutting off his fingers at the second knuckle It groaned, nearly falling to one knee before it swung the blade anyway, with uncompromising speed.

The King of Knights reeled, caught off guard by the swift and sudden recovery, she blocked the strike with a throbbing wrist, only for the pommel of the demon's blade to smack her across the face with a vicious reverse strike, sending her sprawling to the floor.

She rolled, getting to her feet, just in time to see Rin's fist glowing red.

Saber's eyes widened, jumping away as Rin released years of stored magic in a single attack, shattering the jewel in her hands as the demon's spell, the Soul ray, blasted forth in a white-blue wall of blinding light.

Saber knew it was not as powerful as the demon's had been with all four limbs, but it was still powerful regardless.

And it did not miss.

Saber saw just enough to view the Demon enveloped by the beam of light, heard its hollow howl of agony through her thoughts and ears.

So it was to everyone's great surprise when the light finally died away, that they saw the Demon still standing, its armor a charred, smoking ruin, half melted in places, rent open in others green magic seeping from its joints and new openings as it staggered on its feet.

Saber moved forward, rushing the weakened enemy with all the speed still available to her, holding Excalibur as firmly as she could with one arm, the Servant swung with all her might.

And its blade once more rose and stopped her.

With a frustrated cry Saber hammered away at the creature, Excalibur slicing through the air at his waist, arms, legs, anywhere and everywhere.

It blocked and parried, blocked and parried, stumbling like some half drunk before she finally broke through.

And like a tin can hitting the floor, the Demon's helmeted head clattered as it fell, the creature falling to its knees right after as its body glowed with resplendent energy.

Saber stepped back, the Soul was nearly blinding in its intensity, raw power coruscating off of it in waves, even Shirou and Rin, yards away were buffeted by waves of pure magic as it pulsed and glowed in the air above the remains of the Demon's body.

Saber wondered only for a moment, which of them would be the one to take this one.

Then, in a flash, it rushed into her chest and all she knew was white hot agony!

* * *

The creature atop its throne, allowed the ghost of a human expression to cross its inhuman features.

It smiled.

* * *

Well here's the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it sorry for the long wait. But I can't guarantee it won't be repeated.

Why you ask?

Well I just recently started lawschool :

And my workload by all accounts will be fairly huge.

But I hope to be able to update a bit more frequently after the fifteenth when the introductory classes finish in time for the holidays.


	9. Chapter 9

_**'I hate you.'**_

The words were insidious. Words that shouldn't have been said. Were supposed to be impossible to fall from the lips of something lost to its own madness. A poisonous snake through her thoughts, her mind was on fire, blood rushing through her ears, her heart pounding and pounding and pounding and pounding. Like it was ready to burst inside her chest.

_**'I hate you.'**_

She shook, ensnared in this dreams' grip, hateful red eyes staring back at her behind shadow shrouded armor.

She shook her head. _'No. No!' _She denied, more fervently than she felt. _'Its not real. This is not real!'_

The Black armored behemoth growled, a low, rumbling sound in his throat loathing in his eyes.

He was done...he was dead...she knew because she drove the sword into his chest herself.

_'Get out! Get out! Get out!**'**_ She shouted, her thoughts railing against this corrosive remnant. This thing dragged out of her memory like some grotesque taunt.

He's dead.

_**'Get** **out!' ** _

* * *

She opens her eyes with a strangled gasp, feeling her skin hot while her bones were achingly cold.

"Saber." She heard Shirou's voice, saw the shock of red hair, framing her Master's face as he came into view.

"Shir-" She groaned, clutching at her skull. A spike of pain driving itself through her head and straight down her spine

_'Soul of the lost withdrawn from its vessel.'_

Her eyes stung now, the candle lights of the nexus too bright, Shirou's voice too loud. She turned her head, twitching and shivering with what she could only guess was some kind of fever, finding the maiden kneeling next to her, hands clasped together in what seemed like a prayer, an orb glowing white blue infront of her.

_'Let strength be granted so the world might be mended'_

Her ribs felt like they were crushing her lungs, spasms of pain ripped through her whole body as she groaned, clutching herself as she doubled over, feeling herself curl up, her knees to her chest now.

_Soul of the lost withdrawn from its vessel.'_

"Saber. Saber look at me." Shirou's voice seemed far away, but louder than a thunderbolt in her ears. All pretense of dignity and stoicism were gone now, she lay there, shivering in miserable pain...so much pain. The wounds of battle she could shrug off, the injuries of memories long since scabbed over to become scars she rarely allowed herself to dwell on these days.

_'Let strength be granted so the world might be mended.'_

But this...this was something wholly alien, as though her own body were fighting against her, her bones growing too long or her muscles tightening and tensing to the point of tearing, a prisoner in her own flesh. Saber turned back, looking at the worried eyes of her master and felt the words slip out of her before she could stop them.

"What's happening to me?"

She choked down fire, heat spreading through her whole chest until she felt her insides burning.

_'Soul of the lost withdrawn from its vessel'_

She gasped, feeling as though a hundred razors were now flaying her skin off her bones, the throbbing headache splitting her skull, ice down her spine. A myriad of sensations, all of them agonizing tearing through her in the amount of time it took for her to suck in that breath.

_'Let strength be granted so the world might be mended.'_

Her hand reached out, gripping Shirou by the wrist, and even that felt like she was grasping needles, but she gripped harder, he was there, and she needed something...something to keep her grounded, to keep her focus. Something that might help her against whatever invisible enemy was hurting her now.

Shirou's free hand fell over hers, light brown eyes finding hers even as they clouded over with the beginnings of delirium. "I'm right here Saber.

_'So the world might be mended.'_

* * *

Rin felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, staring at Biorr with the most irritated expression one could fathom. "You're joking?"

Bior took a heavy gulp from his wineskin, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I wish lass. Truth is, even if the fog had let you pass after we defeated that monster there's still plenty of fight ahead of ye."

Rin didn't want to be reminded of that blasted fog, after defeating that Knight Demon, and finding the Archstone, Biorr had tried to venture forward a little further, as she and Shirou gathered Saber and Ostrava, hoping they'd be able to return to the Nexus this time for sure. Only for Biorr to be tossed back like the polarities of a magnet had been switched, launching him back nearly five feet.

So now even the freaking _air _was stopping them from finding this library.

Add to that:

"Whatever Demon lies at the top of the King's tower is protected by the spirits of Boletaria's greatest knights and a Fire breathing White Dragon. Bigger, and a lot angrier than that wee red lizard ye faced over the crossing."

Her hands flew up to her face, the back of her head falling against the stone she leaned on. An aggravated sound, half between a scream a groan and a sob escaped the muffle of her fingers.

Then a thought occurred to her. "How do you know if we couldn't get past the fog?"

"The Fog wasn't always this strong girl. The soldiers of Boletaria, Stone Fang and the rest of the kingdoms put up a fight before the demons overran us. My brother Valarfax broke through the fog at the Kingdom's edge, and managed to call for help. I tried leadin an assault through the city to retake the King's tower." He said, his expression darkening. "I took nearly five hundred men, every soldier I could find. We got to the foot of the steps, cutting down demons and madmen...then the Dragon came, the Dragon, the King's possessed knights, and that _**witch**_ Miralda!"

"Miralda?" She asked, her interest peeking.

"Aye, she was The Good King's executioner, lovely face, loyal to King Alant. She used to pray over those she was sent to execute, offering many of them peace before her blade removed their heads from their shoulders."

"She sounds like a real saint for her job." Rin muttered as Biorr shrugged.

"It was as good as some men could hope for with their crimes. She did her duty but never enjoyed it. But now she's a madwoman like all the rest, laughing and giggling as she hacked men to pieces, dressed as some ghoul. Saw her claw a mans eyes out and speak about putting them on a chain to wear as jewelry. That woman is more beast than maiden fair now I can assure you."

"So that's how you were captured then?"

"Aye. Don't know why they kept me. Maybe they wanted to turn me into another Miralda. The elder of Boletaria's Twin Fangs would be quite a boon eh?" He smirked.

"You keep mentioning that. What exactly are the Twin Fangs and who's the other?"

"My brother, Vallarfax. Good man, always with a book. We're Boletaria's Twin Fangs, the last in a long line of knights that guard the King personally. Gifted with the finest Armor and weapons, bar the kings own arms, Daemonbrant and Soulbrant. My brother and I have served for nearly thirty years, ever since King Allant took the throne. The Kings are raised beside the two boys who would be chosen to become the Twin Fangs, the title being passed down along with the crown. My brother and I are the only family to ever have the honor of both Twin Fangs to share the same bloodline." He smiled, a fond upturn of the lips. "Our mother cried so much that day. She was happier than even the King himself, and he was the one receiving the crown."

Rin sighed, leaning back against the stone. "So now...our only way back is out of our reach because of some Demon crap fog, is guarded by elite knights, a fire breathing dragon, and a mad woman who giggles when she claws peoples eyes out."

"And the demon itself. Just by the feel of it, that one up there, atop the tower. Hmm, the one we brought down the other day wouldn't even be considered good practice."

She groaned, her face scrunching up. "Just shut up."

Biorr smirked. "Look on the bright side." He said. "At least you escaped the last fight unscathed." He looked at her ankle, bandaged and sprained from when she'd been thrown back by the shockwave. "Well...mostly."

She wasn't sure weather she should rage or cry.

* * *

When she saw Shirou again, her red headed schoolmate looked haggard and worn thin, his skin sallow with worry lines carving themselves into his face.

Her features softened in sympathy. "How is she?" She asked, as much for him as for herself. Climbing the god only knew how many steps to where they were keeping Saber in one of the farther anterooms was not exactly the smartest thing to do on a sprained ankle with no crutches.

She often chastised herself for such, seeing as how Saber was a servant and the war was still in play, but she did care for their resident stoic blond.

Shirou shook his head, sighing. "I...the maiden says that this is the strongest Demon soul she's had to subdue...its..." He paused, shaking his head again, pushing the thoughts away as he looked to her, "How's Ostrava?"

She gestured to the unarmored man, Biorr sitting by his side. "Still sleeping with whatever the girl in black chugged down his throat. Probably be out for a few more hours."

He nodded moving to step away, walking towards the corner he'd taken as his own sleeping place, ready to grab the stretch of wool that was his 'bed' and make his way back up to Saber when her hand shot out and grabbed at his wrist. "Not so fast there." She said, and with both hands wrapping around his wrist, she pulled herself up to stand on one foot.

He stared at her oddly, no doubt tired but they were gonna be stuck here for a while and the sooner they got started the better. "Alright lets go."

"Go?" He said. "Go where."

"To practice remember? You projected a demon's weapon, I haven't forgotten that load of BS. We need to figure out how you did that and how you can do it again."

Shirou groaned. "Rin...its been a long day, Sabers sick and-"

"And you'll do her no good just sitting around. Come on." She said with a careless shrug. "I'll just annoy you until you do Emiya."

The redhead rolled his eyes, scratching the back of his head before he decided to give in, turning and beginning to walk before Rin's loud **'Ahem' **made him turn around.

She raised her arms magnanimously, throwing a look at her injured ankle.

* * *

Five minutes later Shirou knelt down, feeling Rin ease herself off of his back to sit at the floor, at the far end of the hallway at the foot of the nexus, it led nowhere, forking to a T shape that lead to dead ends, the only real advantage was the rather mystifying view it offered of the massive statue that hung perpetually above the starlight floor in the center.

The weight of the sword Boldwin had grudgingly granted them was almost natural in his hands, the heft of the blade was fine, but the weapon itself was nicked in places, scratched. It'd seen fights that was for sure.

The spear, shield and axe he had in his other hand felt a bit more awkward.

And heavy.

All of these weapons paled in comparison however to the monstrosity Rin had corralled Stockpile Thomas into dragging over here for them.

The poor man was shaking beneath the weight of that Zewiehander, a six foot crushing slab of steel that passed itself off as a sword.

It was taller than all of them for crying out loud.

The man strained with the weight, dragging half the blade on the floor.

"Ohhh" He groaned. "Did they forge this for a man or a shaved bear?"

Setting down his weapons, Shirou stepped forward. "Let me help."

Grabbing onto one side of the blades massive hand guard, Shirou pulled.

And with surprising ease, the blade lifted.

He blinked, half in wonder half in confusion. Altering his grip to grasp the weapon by its proper hilt. "Huh?"

Thomas looked at him wide eyed, retinas going from him to the blade and back to him, then after he deduced that Shirou was indeed lifting a weapon that he had trouble just dragging, looked at his own arms, poking at the biceps.

Rin stared, wide eyed. "Huh...well I guess those Demon Souls are having an effect?"

Shirou turned to look at her. "Huh? Say what?"

"The Demon's Souls." She said slowly, drawing out the words. "If you're able to do that, the two you've taken must be having an effect. You just hadn't realized by how gradual its been." She tapped her chin in thought. "Huh..." She looked at her own biceps. "Maybe I should try lifting weights or something."

"Didn't you use yours to learn that spell?"

"Oh right." She said with a careless shrug. "Guess that means you'll be my pack mule." She smirked viciously and Shirou realized he'd walked right into this. "I see Fujimura and Sakura had the right idea. Always good to have a man around that's house broken."

Five minutes, indignant sputtering and a departing Stockpile Thomas later, Shirou sat across from Rin with a longsword, a dagger, a shield, an axe, a spear and one monstrous slab of steel pretending to be a sword laid out between them.

"Ok." Rin said, grimacing as she folded her leg into a more comfortable sitting position. "Lets start out small." Reaching forward, she lifted the dagger "Try this one."

As Shirou stared at the weapon, Rin spoke, hoping her words would help tap into whatever the hell he'd tapped into beforehand against the dragon. "Try to think. What was it that you did, or what were you thinking of when you projected that weapon Shirou."

His brow scrunched up in thought.

He hadn't been thinking about much of anything...

He'd just...remembered...

Like a switch had been turned on, he remembered that the knowledge was there just...unused...like riding a bike.

Like a thread, laid out before him he tried to follow the thought, tried to reach through whatever had been tossed aside for that one moment, caught between disorientation and adrenaline fueled fear and debilitating worry.

But there was nothing, nothing to guide him, nothing to help him, nothing to let him see. Just the half faded memory of a nearly forgotten dream.

He stared at the weapon held in Rin's hand.

And again, like a switch he found it.

_Judging concept of creation._

_Hypothesizing on structure_

_Duplicating material composition._

_Imitating the skill of its making_

_Sympathizing with the experience of its growth_

_Reproducing the accumulated years_

_Excelling every manufacturing process._

"Trace, On!"

And right there in his hand was the perfect replica of the dagger Rin was holding.

The brunette smiled so wide Shirou was half afraid of it.

* * *

What seemed like an hour or so later, after several projections of the various pieces of equipment infront of them Rin had gotten people to bring other things.

They rather quickly discovered that Shirou's ability was limited to weaponry.

Or more specifically the swords.

He could trace the shield, and the spear, but at close inspection Rin and he could see the weapons were slightly imperfect in their replication. Not exactly the same.

"But you traced that big demon's lance." She finally said with a frown. "I saw it plain as day."

"Maybe it was the same as these." Shirou answered, gesturing to the shield and spear. "Maybe it just looked like a perfect copy. We didn't have time to sit and stare did we?"

Rin frowned. "Project it again."

"Huh?"

You heard me." The brunette said imperiously. "Do it again. You did it before you can do it again."

"What just...off of memory?"

"That thing nearly ran us through a few times. I'm sure you have some idea of what it looked like. Its only been a day and a half."

Shirou stood up now, shrugging, the red head closed his eyes as he tried to run through his memory.

And crystal clear as day the image of the lance came to him, perfect recollection of the weapon in every way.

And with a though, it took shape in his hands. "Trace, On!"

The drain was immediate and profound, where the other weapons had been only a slight pull on his magic circuits, this felt as though someone sucked the energy right out of them now. Liquid fire running beneath his skin, Shirou gasped, grimacing with the shock of pain.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Rin asked, looking at the sudden sweat that beaded his brow.

"This was...tiring."

She nodded, hand going to her chin in thought. "Of course, the greater the weapon the greater the strain no? Seems obvious." She took a closer look at the weapon, her features scrunching up in thought. "Hmmm...its close...but now that I'm looking at it it does seem _off_, somehow."

Shirou looked at the weapon too. She was right. It was _off_. The differences were subtle, but unmistakeable, like staring at the same model and color of a car owned by two different people. You could always _tell_ the difference, even if there shouldn't be any at all.

"Alright well...now we know you can do it. But it does seem like you do better with swords. So one last test eh?"

He looked up at her, trepidation on his features, already an inkling of what she was going to say forming in his thoughts. "And what's that?"

"The last demon we fought had a very nice, very _strong_ sword."

"You want me to project it?"

Rin nodded. "Yup. Consider it the ultimate test. Worth ninety percent of your final grade."

The lance dispelled. And Shirou closed his eyes again in concentration.

Once more, the image of the weapon came to him. He focused on it, coiled his mind around it, channeled all of his energy into this strange thing they'd discovered and...

_Judging concept of creation._

A weapon. Meant for fighting, killing. Its purpose was to be used, wielded. To shed blood.

_Hypothesizing on structure_

A weapon. Its body consisted of a blade, a hand-guard, a hilt and a pommel.

_Duplicating material composition._

A weapon. Forged from ancient blue steel, lined with shards and ores of pure clearstone.

_Imitating the skill of its making_

A weapon. Made by the King's own smith, heated in fires stoked with coals from the Stonefang, pounded with a hammer gifted by the storm tribes, blessings from clerics dedicated to the temples of Latria with chants of Umbasa.

_Sympathizing with the experience of its growth._

A weapon. It found its first blood in the battle of the Ash plains, and again in the rebellion of the six tribes, and again in the war of the Twins.

_Reproducing the accumulated years_

A weapon. Years and years of bloodshed. Of service.

Then...

Corrupted, changed, perverted, enhanced, malformed...

Stronger.

_Excelling every manufacturing process._

A weapon...A sword...A demon sword.

Shirou opened his eyes.

"Trace **On**!"

* * *

She climbed the nine hundred steps, the sound of her foot falls would have been silent, if silence did not already permeate the entire upper mezanines.

When she stood before the monumental, the shriveled child inclined his head up to her, his weary eyes blinking slowly. **"**_**How is the lady Arturia?"**_

His question shot into her mind as it always did, words passing unseen.

"She rests." The maiden said. "I have never seen the like. Even my attempts to quell the demon are met with harsh resistance."

"_**You will never see the like again. Arturia Pendragon is the soul of a long lost Hero, given corporeal flesh. A spirit within a mortal coil."**_

The maiden took a moment to digest this. "She is like the Demon's then...spirits, given form."

"_**She is."**_The monumental admitted. _**"I had not considered it. But because of this, the Demons are not as impaired against her as they would be in trying to combat a human. They are Body and Soul both. Arturia like the Demons, is more soul than body. She will find, that defeating the demons in the physical sense, will only be half the battle. The easier one perhaps."**_

"She cannot prevail." The maiden said, turning around to begin walking back down the steps to tend to her patient. "She fights, and her will is strong but the Demon may soon overpower her."

"_**Then do all you can. Subdue the Demon, suppress it, quell it, lull it to slumber if you must. But save this woman from my failing."**_

She nodded. "I shall do all that I am able."

* * *

Shirou set himself down beside Saber, weary and bone tired as Rin slid down the wall at the ill blonds other side, casting a worried look as Saber's brow beaded with sweat, her breaths shallow and shaky as her eyes clinched themselves closed.

"She'll be alright Shirou." Rin said, throwing the worried redhead a look. Almost promising him as best she could.

The youth took a breath through his nostrils, laying back to rest on the tough wool cloth, he closed his eyes and tried to find sleep.

A moment later he felt something slip into his hand, his eyes snapping open he turned and found Saber's green orbs staring back at him.

Half lidded with exhaustion, his servant managed a single nod, as if to back up Rin's assurances before she began pulling her fingers away to close her eyes.

Shirou moved before she could finish, taking her hand again in his own, more firmly this time.

The servant fluttered her eyes open again, visibly struggling with the effort to find Shirou's gaze again as he nodded with unspoken words.

She let herself succumb to sleep again.


	10. Chapter 10

_She was standing on a hill._

_She was standing, her men around her, cheering, their weapons raised high in the air. "Victory!" They yelled. Chanting her name...her false name. _

"_Arthur!"_

"_Arthur!"_

"_Arthur!"_

"_Arthur!"_

_She raised her blade, and the army roared out its thunderous cheer. But she did not share in their joy, their revelry. Their smiles did not touch her face, did not reach her eyes._

_Her men knelt, each bowing at her feet._

_Sir Gwain noble, brave, Gawain. _

_Sir Lancelot, swift and strong._

_Sir Galahad, most honorable of knights. _

_Sir Bedivere...truest and most loyal._

_And all the other noble men of her round table._

_They were all here, all standing as one with the kingdom of Camelot shining like a beacon of light in a world full of bleakness._

_She was standing on a hill._

_Standing on a hill of swords. Surrounded by her men, her subjects, allies and friends._

_Then why did she seem so very alone to him?  
_

* * *

He woke to someone gently tugging and pulling at his shoulder, rocking him awake.

_Probably not Rin then._ He decided as he pried his eyes open.

And sure enough it was the Maiden's face he saw hovering over him, wax covered eyes and knotted hair still unchanged.

"It is time for thou to wake."

He sat up, rubbing his crusty eyes and yawning before he looked over to Saber.

Still sleeping.

His face dropped, almost visibly aging. "How is she?"

She paused, as if measuring her words. "The demon still tries to destroy her. With my aid, it has exhausted itself, and I shall soon begin the process of lulling the restless creature to slumber."

"To slumber?" He asked, turning to look over his shoulder at her again. "That's not what you helped me do."

"Thou is different...she is different. I do not have the power to aid her as I did thee. And I fear that any attempt to supplant the Demon's power will do more harm than good. It may very well destroy her. This is the most I can do."

"What about the fog?" He asked, his voice rising an octave as the implications started to get to him. "You said that the demons get stronger when we're in the fog. If this thing wakes up-"

"Forgive me." She interrupted, bowing her head. Her voice held such sincere regret it brought him up short. "But this is all I can do...all that we can hope for is that it will be enough.

They sat in silence for a long while before the maiden placed her hand in his. "Now go. The lady Rin has expressed a desire to speak with thee as soon as possible.

* * *

Some time, a bubbling hot soup, that had Biorr all but guarding the cauldron from fellow Nexus inhabitants and a full stomach later, Shirou found himself standing at the top of the second tier of stairs as Rin sat, her legs dangling over the edge.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

She smiled. "Reinforcement."

"I can already do reinforcement just fine." He half protested.

"Yeah, I know. Congratulations on having one skill before I found you." She waved off his words. "Now, you can reinforce but we're going to work on you reinforcing a few things at once. Firstly, the weapon that you'll be projecting-"

She paused, staring at him.

She cleared her throat. "Ahem. The weapon you'll be _**projecting**_-" The word was so pointed this time he would have had to be blind deaf and dumb to not catch her meaning.

"Ahh, sorry." He said before closing his eyes.

Opening them again a second later, now in his hands was a perfect replica of Ostrava's runesword.

She nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Give it here."

He handed it to her, hilt first. Rin looked at the blade, eying it for a moment before she swung down at the edge she sat over with all her might.

With barely a chink in the obsidian stone, the blade bounced off.

She handed it back. "Ok. Now reinforce it as much as you possibly can without breaking it"

He frowned a bit but did as she asked. His features scrunching up in concentration before he finally spoke. "There."

"Alright, give it here." She said.

And with another swing the blade dug its edge a good two inches into the finely cut masonry.

She nodded. "Not bad at all. Now, that's the first thing you've reinforced, now you're gonna reinforce something much more important."

"And what's that?"

She, shifted, hobbling up to a standing position as best she could, grateful that the redhead helped lift her as she swiveled around to face him fully.

Pressing her finger to his chest she said one simple word. "This."

He looked down at the offending digit, raising an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Good." She nodded. "If you would have asked 'Your finger' or 'My heart' or something equally asinine I'd have probably had to throw you over the edge for sheer stupidity."

"Why?"

"That edge is still very close." She muttered, glaring before she sighed. "And just when I thought you were getting smarter. Look Shirou..." She began, rubbing her temples. "Since we've been here, we've been attacked by lunatics, starving lunatics, lunatics with glowing dolls, octopus headed creatures, rabid dogs, stupidly laughing fat people, a _**dragon**_ and a variety of demons, all of which seem to be well over six feet tall when humanoid, over twenty feet tall when not, who have tried every manner of painful death implement imaginable, including but not limited to, slashing, piercing stabbing, crushing, burning, magic, blunt force trauma or an otherwise disruption of proper bodily functions."

Her glare was flat, and her tone dangerously low. "So if I ask you to dress up in Sabers clothes and hop up and down three times you can bet Its probably got something to do with us avoiding the painful death that things in this world seem more than willing to give us every time we step outside of this place."

"You know..." He ventured. "You could have just said 'It'll help.' and that would have been fine."

She blinked. Was that Shirou...being cross?

She huffed out a laugh. "Yeah...I guess I'm just a bit irritated with this foot, and Saber being sick. I shouldn't have snapped."

Somewhere he realized that this was about as close to an apology as he was going to get with Rin.

She brought a finger up to her chin. "Huh. You know. I just realized we're missing something.

"What's that?"

"Biorr."

* * *

Biorr was six foot six, even without his armor.

A full beard, a wild curl of copper hair atop his head and enough muscles in his arms to pass them off as miniature tree trunks made both she and Shirou look laughably small next to him.

Perfect.

"Shirou, you're not reinforced right?"

The beguiled youth shook his head.

"Good." Gesturing for Biorr to come closer, she pulled him down to whisper in his ear.

Warning bells started to go off in Shirou's head. "Tohsakah?"

"Just a minute." She sing-songed, smiling so sweetly at him her teeth should have rot.

Biorr's incredulous look was not helping.

She slapped the big man on the shoulder smiling up at him just as sweetly.

In hindsight, he should not have been so surprised when this whole episode ended with him doubled over, coughing and wheezing after Biorr's fist had buried itself in his gut.

"Ok. Now reinforce."

Shirou was someone who abhorred violence towards women but this girl was just pushing it.

* * *

Some time later, Rin hummed to herself as she scribbled some notes on what passed for paper around here, an honest to gods quill in her hand as she jotted down the notes she'd gathered.

Firstly was Emiya's pain tolerance. It had increased...or...at least the toughness of his skin had. Biorr's first blow had been enough to nearly make him throw up, he'd been wheezing on the ground for a good three minutes before he picked himself up.

She cringed a bit at the memory of his glare. Oh if looks could...well...some could. Thank goodness he was a mostly incompetent Magus.

Anyway, after the first hit, he'd reinforced himself and was able to take Biorr's hit with little more than a grunt, which was a vast improvement really but she knew there was room for more.

Hardly any magus ever really practiced reinforcement to a real extent on themselves because of how many other techniques were out there. It didn't matter how fast one could become if they could just as easily learn a spell for speed or immutability. It didn't matter how tough you could make your flesh and bones if you still got hit by a fireball.

But this was all Shirou had. So they would have to perfect it as carefully as they cou...as she would let them be.

She _knew_ he could push himself to more, even without accounting for the Demon Souls that already seemed to increase his strength by a wide margin, the level of reinforcement he was accomplishing now was not as far as she suspected he could go even as a normal human.

But how much could they feasibly push? Reinforcing too much always, for simplicity's sake "broke" the item in question.

Shirou walking around with his bones as splinters and his muscle ligaments ripped to shreds was hardly going to make things go better.

Speaking of which.

"Hey." He greeted kneeling down and offering her a bowl.

She almost cried at the sight of real, solid _rice! _Nearly a week of nothing but soup was starting to drive her up the wall, no matter how good Shirou cooked.

Rice with bits of spicy chicken shreds to boot. She inhaled, and she could have kissed Shirou at that moment.

A walk across the expanse of the antechamber and Ostrava joined them. One arm gripping his own bowl, the other wrapped up in a sturdy sling. Without magic she was sure he would never use that limb again. Even with the maiden's healing magic it was going to take a long time to fully knit and set.

She did perk up a bit at the sight of him conscious for once. "Ahh Ostrava I wanted to ask you something."

His face was bare, his armor gone, sand colored hair curling atop his head. The man's raised eyebrow was obvious now as he sat, so was the wince of pain as his limb jostled. "Yes?"

"Other than the library in Boletaria you mentioned another place that had a store of magic knowledge right? Which was it?"

"The tower of Latria." He recalled with a shrug. "It's where you found Sage Freke."

That soured Rin's mood like curdled milk.

Then she looked around, finding Freke was the next in line to get his serving of food. "Freke!" She yelled, her voice easily carrying over as it bounced off the walls

The magus swiveled his head around, his cowl was down, letting the whole world see the stringy, slate grey hair that crowned the sides and back of his head.

She waved him over.

"Yes?" He questioned when he finally reached them, taking a seat next to Ostrava, forming a loose semicircle.

"You know where the library of Latria is?" She asked.

"Of course I do." He sniffed, as if offended. "Its in the throne room."

Rin blinked, an incredulous eyebrow rising. She went to speak when Shirou, surprisingly beat her to it. "They keep their library in the same place they hold court?"

The sage shrugged. "The Ivory queen, loved knowledge. Word was she enjoyed seeing people learning more than anything else."

The red head looked at her before shrugging. It certainly wasn't the strangest thing they'd heard of since they came here.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well." She chewed for a second, swallowed. "We can't get to the library in Boletaria. So we need to use the next best thing."

"Ahh, for your method home yes?" The sage nodded. "I see. And you will need a guide who has been to Latria before."

"You seemed like the natural choice." She said with a shrug. "I mean, you got captured but you've seen more than just its prison."

"That I have." He acknowledged with a nod and a sip of his water. "There are-"

"Demons." She deadpanned, already guessing where this was going.

"Yes." He nodded. I slipped past the doll creature you destroyed, along with the bridge guardians. The Gargoyles. My goal was to strike at the Archdemon itself. Cut out the cancer at its heart."

"You failed though." Rin said, almost wincing as she realized how callous that might have sounded.

Freke's eyebrow twitched with irritation. "Yes. I failed. That yellow robed monstrosity."

"What exactly are its abilities?" Ostrava piped up, genuinely curious. "The only archdemon we faced was strong enough to do this." He gestured to his broken arm. "In a single blow. It took the combined strength of the ladies Tohsakah and Saber, a long with mesere Emiya and Sir Biorr to defeat it, and even then it was a close thing.

"Its powers are not martial." Freke said, shaking his head. "It is...it is difficult to explain...truth be told its not even something I'm sure _can_ be explained. One must see it for themselves."

"Well that's useful." She rolled her eyes. Honestly why couldn't someone ever just give a simple answer to these questions. Like 'He shoots lightning bolts from his eyes' or 'Summons a dragon out of his ass' or 'Snaps your bones by snapping his fingers.'

She shook her head. Nothing was ever simple. Turning to look at Shirou she spoke. "Alright, well we're still gonna need a few days to heal so you're gonna have to practice your reinforcement skill as much as you can along with your projections alright?"

He nodded, he'd intended to anyway.

"Hopefully Saber will be up and about by the time me and Ostrava are done-"

"I will not be going with you."

She stopped, brought up short as she turned to look at the blond haired prince. "Huh?"

"My duty-" He said with quiet fierceness. "-is in Boletaria. I must return there."

"But the fog won't let you through." Shirou protested.

"Even if it does not allow me into the citadel the entire city is infested with madmen. But there must be more than that. I refuse to believe every living creature in what remains of my home is a thrall of the demon. Biorr and I will try to find survivors, or even intercept whatever warriors have ventured in from other kingdoms."

"The chances that any remain alive are-"

"More than enough for me to search." The Boletarian interrupted Freke.

Before the conversation could continue however, Rin heard Shirou speak up.

"Hey, Tohsakah?"

She turned, looking at him, only to find that his eyes held that rare look in them. The look he had when he'd just finished putting the pieces together to something. "Yeah?"

"You said..._hopefully_ Saber will be up and about."

The pieces were clicking together in his head. She'd hoped he'd be slow on the uptake but it was a conversation that could only be put off. Not avoided.

"You're not planning to wait for Saber?"

She shook her head. "No...In fact, thinking about it-" She added. "Even if she is back on her feet, I'm not sure its such a good idea that she go at all."

She saw the lines around his mouth deepen with the beginnings of anger, and she moved to keep speaking before he could get started.

"Look. Saber is strong. Stronger than all of us but, I'm not sure if its just the fact that its an archdemon that she absorbed but its hit her harder than any of us Shirou. If she goes out there, and something else goes wrong we don't know what could happen. We don't know if the demon could posses her. We don't know if it could destroy her. Hell It could just be like nothing was different and Saber was as good as ever and I'm just being paranoid."

"The point is-" She continued. "-we don't know what kind of complications she'll feel. She's a Heroic Spirit, she will return to the root when she dies but I can't even be sure if_ that_ holds true in this place.. This place _feeds_ on _Souls_ and-" She paused, taking a deep breath, gathering herself. "Look...I don't know what we'll find in this tower of Latria, if any of the books there can help us but _if _they can then that means we go home faster. And _that_ means that we'll keep Saber safe from whatever this place can do to her and to us

His jaw shifted, clenching his teeth in uncertainty. She was swaying him. He, _**more **_than her, wanted to protect Saber. This was the same boy that jumped infront of Berserker's swing to do so once. He _wanted _to protect Saber, and she was willing to use that to manipulate him.

Did that make her a bitch?

Probably.

But it was for their own good as much as Sabers.

She could live with being labeled a bitch.

* * *

And above them, in the shadow of the Nexus' statue the maiden prayed over the once and future King.

_Soul of the Lost withdrawn from its vessel._

_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended._

_Soul of the lost withdrawn from its vessel._

_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended..._

_So the world might be mended._

* * *

Alot of good stuff coming in for the next chapters in Latria. I'm genuinely excited for it. Especially the events for chapters 12, 13 and 14. :D


	11. Chapter 11

"You're not leaving me here!"

"Saber please you're in no condition to-"

The King of Knight's hissed, struggling to her feet on shaking legs as Shirou grabbed her, helping her stand as she clutched at her chest, her brows furrowed, sweat beading her forehead as though still trapped in some kind of fever.

She panted, struggling to catch her breath before glaring at him, green eyes boring holes into his skull. "You're my master. I won't let you go alone."

"I won't be alone." He tried to reassure her. "Sage Freke is coming. So is Rin."

"Neither of them can-" She stopped, groaning as a spasm of pain ripped straight through her body all but doubling her over.

"Neither can you." He said, easing her back down, the strength in her legs all but gone as he brought her down to rest again.

She glared at him some more. Those green eyes glinting like flint daggers as they radiated her disapproval of this, her reproach at his brazen self endangerment, her own self loathing at being unable to do anything about it.

He stared back down at her, all but pleading. "Saber please. You still have to get your rest, you're not fully recovered."

She opened her mouth, fully ready to snarl out another protest before Shirou spoke up one more time.

"Don't make me use a command seal."

Her mouth snapped shut in reflex. Eyes going wide with shock "You wouldn't!"

"If it'll keep you safe you know I will!" He shot back, trying to sound confident. He really would use it. But even he could see it would be a waste. A waste compounded by the fact he only had two command seals left.

"I'm your servant, a tool. I am not-"

"You are to me."

Her lips thinned, emotions warring across her face before she sighed heavily through her nostrils.

"Don't worry so much." Rin sauntered in from somewhere, all but admitting she'd been eavesdropping behind one of the many columns. "If worse comes to worse, all we've got to do is outrun an aging mage so that the monsters eat him rather than us. We'll be fine."

The troubling part was that Shirou couldn't tell if she was entirely joking.

* * *

Emerald mist and wisps of magic dissipated to reveal the three of them standing atop the shattered remains of the bell tower, the Archstone sword's hilt grasped between them.

Looking over the landscape spread out before them, Rin could safely say that this place was still just as horrible as when she'd last seen it.

A black cloud loomed over the sky, the sunlight above all but blacked out, the tower off in the distance, what once must have been a beautiful structure stuck out of the land now like a bone poking out of skin.

She looked straight ahead of them, finding the harsh granite of a very narrow walkway, hanging over what must have easily been several hundred feet above the ground.

With not a single railing in sight.

"Good god didn't these people have a safety committee?"

When Freke looked at her oddly she elaborated, gesturing to the bridge infront of them. "A strong wind can knock you off of this thing. Its ridiculous."

"Ahh." He nodded, understanding now. "It was not always like this. Look." He knelt, his fingers brushing the edge where he pointed out a paper thin slit running along the length of the walkway. "It was once used to emit a magical barrier. In the thousand years since the ivory tower stood nothing, not even the most reckless babe or the dullest lackwit ever fell. Since the demons came however, the barriers are gone, and its very likely hundreds have fallen to their deaths since."

Rin rubbed a spot at the bridge of her nose. "Lets just...go. Its not like its gonna get any safer."

Freke nodded.

* * *

Ilya yawned as she sat up from the bed, her eyes were still droopy and her hair a tangled mess.

She moved to stand from the bed when her nose caught a whiff of something _magnificent._

Doing a personal imitation of Toucan Sam she followed the scent with eyes wide open now. Opening the door she walked through the hallways until she finally came across the kitchen.

Where she felt her jaw all but unhinge itself at the sight of Rin's Archer with a skillet in his hands "You cook!?"

The servant turned his head, looking over his shoulder at her. "Ahh, you're awake." Then he seemed to remember her question. "Not entirely. Sakura did most of the work."

It was then that Ilya noticed their purple haired other a little off to the side, preparing the table, a blush blossoming over her face at the aloof praise.

"Ahh..I. Umm...I did-Archer-san helped a lot." She stuttered gnawing on her lip.

"Sakura-chan when did you get here!"

"She arrived just an hour ago. Volunteered to start cooking for you. I decided to help, after I realized I'd been reading the same line for ten minutes."

He seemed to be finished since he put the omelet he'd been working on into a plate, setting it at the table before returning to the kitchen to pull a hissing kettle off the stove and serve himself the water for his tea.

She walked over to the table sitting down, half startled when Archer pushed the omlete he'd placed on the table over to her, setting down his tea before walking back over to the kitchen counter to pick up another omelete that had been on the counter and set it down. For Sakura as he pulled the purple haired girls chair out from the table.

They sat down, and the moment the omelete touched Ilya's tongue her tastebuds sang.

"Oh dear god!" She brought her hand to her lips.

Her snapped over to Archer. "Did you make this!?" She looked back to the still fidgeting Sakura. "Did you!? Who made this!?" She'd had gourmet dinners with less flavor than this.

"Enjoy it." Archer said with a smirk. "We'll be busy today."

That brought her out of her tastebud induced euphoria. "Huh." Looking to Archer her eyes went wide with delight. "You found something!"

Even Sakura turned her eyes up at that looking to Archer as though she was ready to shake him in order to get him to speak again.

"Don't get your hopes up." Rin's servant warned. "Its a longshot at best. And even if it works it wont really get them back."

"In an eye blink Ilya began inhaling her food, somewhere in the back of her mind she was lamenting the fact that she wasn't really tasting it but to hell with it! They finally had something to work with!

* * *

Shirou found that the walkways were just as perilous as Rin had feared.

The wind buffeted them, making them sway dangerously as they tried to keep their footing, the height made him dizzy in and of itself, the fires, billowing in massive brazziers whipped embers into their faces with stray winds.

"The architect of this place should be flayed." He heard Rin mutter ahead of him.

"Curious that you should mention such." Freke piped in at the head of their group. "The Ivory tower was built by Haermenous Sven, or, Sven the mad, as some would call him. While not exactly flayed, his end was rather grisly."

"Do tell." It was disturbing just how cheerful she sounded.

"Well, all the slaves rebelled, after the tower was built. Some had learned aspects of the Soul arts. Magic you see, was something that Sven feared. When the uprising came, the slaves slew their noble masters, and their leader, an adept wielder of the Soul arts tore Sven's soul from his body, to forever dissolve and recompose itself and be dissolved again for the rest of time. Pure Hyperbole of course, no creature could ever hold a soul in thrall for eternity save perhaps a demon, but it does give one something to ponder no? Surely his fate must have been rather gruesome for someone to entail an exaggerated myth like-"

Shirou felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, his whole body seizing up in fear as he heard a sound he'd hoped never to have to hear again.

The flapping of wings.

_'Oh no no no no!'_

He rushed forward, all but tackling Rin as he shouted to Freke. "Get down!"

He ignored the brunettes startled, and angry yelp of surprise "What the hell!"

She fell still as the wind buffeted their backs and the wisp of something fast whooshing right past their heads.

They hit the ground and both teens rolled onto their backs to get their first look at their attacker.

"Why can't anything ever be simple!" She snarled, loosing a fireball at the stone skinned gargoyle coming around for another pass, a thin rod with a point gripped in his long, gnarled fingers.

The creature dove, dodging Rin's attack and the brunette let loose another, this time adjusting her aim. It struck dead center of the beast's chest.

It howled, flailing as its body caught aflame. Though its skin looked like stone, it was more akin to leather. It lit up like tallow and the beast fell, plummeting down to the earth; its wings and arms whipping this way and that way as it tried in vain to smother the fires.

They stand, their eyes trailing the orange dot as it falls away into the nothingness below.

"Well...that was-"

"If you're going to say it was easy don't!" Shirou interrupted. "It'll just make things worse."

"Too late I'm afraid."

Both teens turned, to see sage Freke looking off to the right.

Following his gaze, it did not take them very long to pierce the gloom with their eyes finding dozens more of the creatures beginning to fly towards them.

The three humans stared for a moment before Freke spoke up again.

"Run."

And just like that, the three were sprinting across the walkway, buffeting winds and narrow ledges be damned as they tried to swallow up the remaining distance between themselves and the stone tower before the Gargoyles caught up to them.

Wings in the air however will always be faster than feet on the ground.

With a howling screech the first creature reached them, landing atop the walkway right infront of Freke.

The old mage backpedaled, cursing as he stumbled and fell on his ass, he pulled out his wand as the beast loomed over him, iron spike in hand.

"Trace on!"

With a savage lunge Shirou jumped over the older man, a simple dagger now in hand as he plunged it into the things chest, sending them both toppling over with a magnificent crash as the creature released a surprised screech before falling onto his back.

Shirou rolled once, over the beast and onto his back, scrambling to his feet as Freke and Rin stumbled over the beast, with Rin pulling him to keep running as she ran passed

They hissed and howled, pursuing with the beating of wings and the sound of crunching footfalls.

Freke turned, "To the ground."

Rin fell flat, Shirou following her example a second before a wave of magic rushed over their heads.

They heard more screeches, then all was silence.

They looked up, over their shoulders to look out behind them where only three or so Gargoyles were showing their backs, fleeing back to wherever they made roost.

Standing up, they found Freke panting, beads of sweat lining his brow before he wiped them away.

"Well." He sighed. "That was...bracing." placing his wand back into the fold of his sleeve the older man turned to keep walking. "We should continue, before they bring friends."

Shirou found himself agreeing as they all marched into the tower's entrance archway.

When they reached the anteroom, Rin and Shirou's mouths fell open in horrified disgust.

"What-"

"-the hell is that!?" Rin finished.

It was a bloated mass, pulsing with rhythmic contractions.

Weeping puss and oily ooze, sickening limbs fastened themselves to the wall holding it aloft.

"That." Freke answered. "Is the heart of the Archdemon above."

* * *

"A locator spell?"

"Its a bit more complicated than that from what the verses describe." Archer said brushing his fingertips over the lines of text. "This was designed by the Tohsakah's for family members to locate others that had gone missing. Since a normal locator spell could be tampered with with countermeasures they designed this. It allows them to see through the eyes of the person they're searching for. Or perhaps communicate telepathically if the blood bond was strong enough, like say a parent and their child, or twins."

"But none of us are family." Ilya said looking at Archer.

"No. But I'm Rin's servant. And Sakura is very close to Shirou."

The purple haired girl nodded, biting her lip with what seemed to be nervous worry.

"That seems like a leap-" The albino bemoaned.

"Its more than what we've had so far." The servant barked, standing straighter "The design is precise, but simple. It just needs Prana to activate it once its done, items belonging to the people we're searching for. Preferably blood, but any DNA will do I think, and the ones closest to them standing on certain spots."

He turned his eyes to Sakura, who all but wilted under his harsh glare. "You go to Emiya's house and get us something we can use" Turning to Ilya he gave her orders as well. "In the meanwhile you'll help me make this thing."

"Me! Bu-but."

"You're the closest thing to a Magus that we have. So we'll have to all take a bit of a leap and hope for the best right now."

* * *

The demon's heart.

Bloated by avarice.

Turned rotten by hatred.

Corrupted by malice.

It dominated the tower's hollow insides, looking every bit like it was ready to burst, immune to magic and weapons. It was both the source of this demons power and the parasite that sapped it away.

"We will have to destroy it." Freke had said. "The demon will be nigh untouchable with the heart still beating."

"Wait? If we destroy its heart we wont kill it?" Shirou had asked.

"No. You will weaken it, considerably. But to kill it you must cut the cancer at the root." The sage intoned. "The yellow Robed King. The man filled with such greed and poison he turned his daughter into the dolls she so adored and his twin sons into the eternal guardians of the sky bridge. The man who cast his lovely wife into the most horrid of prisons to die and blighted his entire kingdom to ruin for the mere chance of immortality. An immortality that is more a prison than any walls could ever hope to be."

The winding sky bridge spread out before them, the desiccated corpse of the once gleaming Ivory Tower at their back. It coiled up to a set of stairs on another tower, its very dimensions defied belief, impossibly thin at its base, becoming wider above where they made their way up the stairs that wrapped around it, coming closer and closer to the bright glow that could just barely be peeked at from outside the walls.

"Here." Freke said running up the last five steps, that granted them entrance to a mezzanine room.

A massive, glowing chain hung in its center, fastened to the floor, every link bigger than a door, its golden glow was...sickly, in a sense, making the three feel queasy just by looking at it for too long.

"This is what the demons are using to hold that heart. We break it, and it will fall."

The sage began to circle the chain, with Rin doing the same, both mages looking for some kind of weakness in the structure.

"Do you sense anything?" Freke called to her. "Any fallacy in the magic we might exploit?"

Shirou looked around, various cracked vases and pottery, nearly as tall as he was, were pressed against the wall. Grime covered the floor, like a muddy rainstorm had swept in the night before and left everything with a layer of filth.

Something caught his eye, half obscured by the array of pottery.

"Not really." Rin answered. "But maybe if we were to-"

Shirou inched closer, pulling a pot away from its surface to reveal a half rusted lever.

"No, I don't think that would work. This is the Archdemon's power. It will not be felled easilly."

"Guys."

"So what do you suggest then? Break down the whole tower."

"Guys."

"That is an inspired idea."

"Guys!"

"That was sarcasm, Freke."

"Which is not at all limited to just your use lady Toh-"

With a screech of sundered metal the chains shot up, the irresistible weight of the bloated heart pulling it with enough violence to shake the entire tower as link after link rattled free of the overhead axis.

Freke saw the monstrous organ strain, lurching down before falling still, its remaining support just enough to hold it aloft, if only just.

Rin turned her eyes to Shirou, who's hand still rested on the pulled lever.

The redhead shrugged.

Rin opened her mouth, but something caught the very corner of her eye.

With the all encompassing glow of the monstrous chain no longer burning her retina's with its sickly yellow color, her eyesight was once more adjusting to the darkness allowing her to see a little farther.

Also the plethora of colors atop a platform may have helped to catch her attention.

She looked closer. "Is there someone over there?"

* * *

"Nothing?"

Lancer nearly sighed, his red spear in hand as Kotomine turned his flat, dead stare onto him. "No. Not the boy, the girl, their servants, or even the Einzbern girl.

"And Caster?"

"I have an idea where it might be." The dog of Culann admitted. "I'll have to confirm however."

"Do it and return quickly." The false priest ordered. "We'll have to draw out Tohsakah and the Emiya boy."

Lancer bowed turning and leaving as quickly as he'd come; leaving the false priest to his thoughts.

Unlike most, Kotomine could remember how much trouble an Einzbern, an Emiya and a Tohsakah could be.

* * *

The lights from the glowing stones cast an awash of colors over the body in the cage. Sitting, unmoving. Rin was half worried that the person was dead, just held up by the sturdy looking armor.

She leaned in closer, the helm of dark metal having only the barest slit over the eyes, veiled in shadow, she still couldn't tell if the man was alive or dead.

She leaned in a little closer, hearing Shirou and Freke coming up behind her.

She turned to look at them. "I think its dead."

Shirou opened his mouth when his expression contorted into shocked horror, Rin's head swiveled back, only to find a very pointy dagger touching the base of her throat.

"Not so much, no." The voice was a rasp. It sounded like metal. He pulled the dagger back, sheathing it. "You should be more careful little girl. Nothing can be trusted in this place."

She stepped back, her hand at her throat, still feeling the ghost of the daggers kiss as the armored man sat back once more.

"Tohsakah, are you alright?" Shirou asked her, coming closer and looking at her neck before glaring at the man.

Freke held his hand forward, an orb of magelight held out, to try and catch a glimpse of the man behind the helm. "Who are you?"

"Is that really important? I am who I am, and you are who you are. All you need know is that I am on your side. I fight the demons."

"Either you give us your name, or you rot in your cage."

The man stood, his armor scratching against the metal bars around him, the joints creaking, dust-actual _dust_ fell off of him.

"If you must call me something. Then call me Yurt."

"Yurt." Freke breathed, his eyes narrowing. "I know that name. The silent chief. The leader of the black spiders within the shadowlands."

"I am the leader of nothing now. The fog has seen to that."

"Has it spread so far already?"

"Farther now than when I left." Yurt turned his head, looking to the Ivory tower. "You seek to bring down the heart. Smart. But you need to destroy the other chain. It won't be easy."

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked.

"The Demon knows you're coming. He's directing all his strength there, the Gargoyles will circle above. You will be overwhelmed before you can ever reach the Dawn tower from the walkways."

"Let me guess." Rin prodded, glaring at the man that had just recently held a knife to her throat. "You know another way?"

"I do." He looked down. "Through the marsh. Down below. The landscape is twisted, broken. But you can reach the Dawn tower there, rising from below. Destroy the chain before the Gargoyle's ever know you're there." He looked back up to them. "But you'll never make it-"

"Without your help." Freke finished.

"Indeed." One could almost feel the smirk tugging at the armored man's lips. "As I said, I am on your side. I fight the demons. Release me, and I shall aid you against the twins and the Yellow robed Demon up above."

He paused, perhaps in consideration, perhaps just for dramatic effect. "Or would you prefer to try your luck against three dozen flying vermin atop a narrow walkway.

The three looked at eachother.

Moments later, the shattered remnants of the cages lock clattered to the floor.

Yurt stepped out of his prison, languidly stretching his legs as he moved freely for the first time in who knew how long.

The armored man looked to his 'saviours' all but blatantly assessing each as he stared for several moments. Not a lick of armor between the three of them, hardly any weapons either, save for the daggers the girl and old man carried.

Soul art wielders. He determined.

All three of them.

The boy had no weapons at all save for a bow. Is that foolish bravado or skill?

He would find out shortly. "Come then. We've no time to loose." There were demons to be slain for now, the rest could come later.

* * *

Hey everyone.

Unfortunately I come with some bad news. Law school really isn't leaving a great deal of excess time to devote to my stories unfortunately so I can't promise that my update rate will be steady and sure. At least until summer gets here. Its a lot of work and it can't be shelved, so while I do intend to continue my stories, it may be, quite frankly a few months between updates even ones as relatively small as this one.


	12. Chapter 12

Shirou didn't want to know what he was standing in.

He really...really didn't want to know.

So why in the world was Yurt talking about it?

"To think this place was once the crown jewel of the east..." His feet slosh the muck he's standing in. "Now look. A festering pool of puss, seeped out of that bloated heart and the corrupted fool from on high. All the waste and bile of a kingdom's spirit made manifest to drown whatever good was once here.

Shirou hoped to god that "Puss" and "Waste" was being used in poetic license rather than any literal sense of them.

It certainly stinks like it can be taken literally.

Something squelched beneath his boot.

His already queasy stomach churned with nausea.

"Cheer up. I'm sure washing these clothes will be a delightful adventure for you later."

He turns to look over his shoulder, glaring at Rin who smiles down at him.

"I will drop you."

Rin's features take on a look of mock indignation, although he does note that she wraps her legs around his waist just a bit."Oh fine. Nobody can take a joke these days."

"To be fair to Master Emiya. This is a rather disgusting feeling." Freke said, putting in his two cents.

They trudge through the marsh, insects and strange creatures chittering and crawling just out of sight, coming close in curiosity, shying away from fear.

None of them would care to venture a guess as to how much time has passed, though the misery of the walk may very well have made the journey seem much longer before they come across the planks.

The wood is half rotten, or seems so, little more than scaffolding for the people conducting maintenance, tools still lie across its surface here and there. How fast these people must have tried to flee when the fog came.

Or is it how quickly the fog came before they could flee?

They climbed it, trying to find the safest spots amidst the creaking and groaning, with Shirou finally releasing Rin onto dry land.

She smiled, the gratitude in her eyes though she did not voice her thanks.

"That way. Do you see?" Yurt pointed, the half shattered remains of an Archway, was the object. "There is your entrance to the tower. And your Path to the Archdemon."

* * *

The maiden looked exhausted.

Saber felt like the fever would overtake her again.

No one could rightly say which of the two looked worse.

She'd tried to conjure up Excalibur, to see if she still could, to see if she could even hold the blade properly.

Its nothing, barely a thought to her. Its in her hands when she needs it, its gone when she does not.

And it sent lances of pure agony through every limb.

The wax eyed maiden had come running, chanting her prayers and moulding her power to subdue the demon once more.

From what she could tell, it had struggled.

"The ill effects should pass shortly." The maiden whispered between heavy breaths. Every day since they'd returned from Boletaria she manipulated her mastery of souls over Saber, and it was beginning to show.

"I'm sorry." The King of knights bit out, apologies were an unfamiliar thing to her tongue. "I just-"

The maiden shook her head, sitting back, so she could rest on the heels of her feet, knees folded under her. "There is no need. This one understands. Thou wisheth to protect him."

Saber's expression tightened a bit, conflicting emotions warring over her faculties in her weakened state.

"He is my master. He-"

"It is alright." The maiden repeated. "This one understands."

And somehow, looking at the woman, who's features, worn by exhaustion, and deathly pale due to lack of sunlight, which only made her seem more ghoulish with the gray wax around her eyes Saber knew these weren't just words of empty platitudes.

She _did_ understand...

* * *

The chain's release thundered through their bones.

The massive bands of iron shattered stone as they were ripped free of their lock, more violently than the first as the full weight of the bloated heart settles over it and tears it free of this place.

They all look at the Ivory tower, the bloated heart, hanging their from fleshy tendrils coiled around the support columns.

They slip, their grip slackens, the sheer weight of the organ dragging them down.

One support column snaps like a toothpick, and the whole thing comes down.

For a heart stopping moment, Rin fears the Ivory Tower itself would collapse.

But it stays standing. It'd been created by finer stone masons and stronger magics than had been seen in a thousand years.

"The Path lies open then." Yurt says, his harsh, gravel like voice making her spine stiffen.

Its Freke, that grabs the both of them, tugging them each by a shoulder, bringing their attention to him. "You must be ready. The demon is weakened but far from helpless. When we face the Arch-Demon-"

"Oh before you do that you must get past the bridge guardians."

Freke scowls, turning and glaring at Yurt, who holds his wheat sickle scythe loosely, rolling it in his fingers. "What?"

"Before the Archdemon can be destroyed, we must face the bridge guardians. The two sons he turned to beasts, forevermore to stand as the last guard for his throne room."

* * *

They climb the steps.

Seven hundred and seventy six steps, one for each of the spells woven into the foundations of the tower, or Freke describes.

Its a long climb, even if they hadn't just spent the better part of three hours traversing through the walkways and the marsh below.

Yurt leads the way. The man is like an automaton, barely slowing unless he realizes he's leaving them behind, hardly speaking in comparison to the three of them.

The scythe in his right hand seems wicked with its curve, the dagger in his left gleams with a sharpened edge.

She knows he can fight. Anyone that's survived this place _must _know how to fight. But he's better than most, better than Ostrava, even better than Biorr. She doesn't know how she knows this so certainly.

But she does.

And it should reassure her but it only makes her more uneasy, a disquiet at the back of her mind.

Its just a feeling, its stupid and its paranoid...and maybe that's just what this place does to people. Makes them paranoid. But she can't shake it, and staring at the back of that horned helm as they climb the stairs only serves to cement her impressions of this man.

Finally, they reach the top of the walkway. Empty pottery lies scattered about, some broken, all decayed.

There is filth on the floor and a dried corpse as well.

They step over it, and at last come across what Rin and Shirou have come to recognize as their last warning before finding the Demons of this strange place that they've come to.

The colorless fog.

They stand before it, the four of them, anxiety and trepidation gripping each in its own way.

For once, Rin can't really tell who takes the first step.

The fog envelops them, and in a moment Rin feels her emotions splinter and crack, slivers of overwhelming terror, consume her. Fear and panic clawing at her insides while her minds fights, pushes it back, feels a surge of bold recklessness at the same time. Such a distinct dichotomy of cowardice and bravery, love and hate, resentment and acceptance overcoming her that she is sure she will never experience its like again.

Then its over, and they're through the fog.

The bridge they're standing on is so high Rin find's herself gasping.

She's not afraid of heights, she jumped off of a building with nothing but Archer's arm around her waist after all.

But this is something else entirely. She looks off, and she can see the mountains cresting the horizon, she can see the valleys, what remains of the natural land.

She can see so far, so far its almost a wonder in and of itself, with nothing but the thin, elegant columns beside her, crowned by flames. There is none of the harsh surface of concrete buildings and glass edifices.

Its so much more elegant, more simple...so much..._more_.

"This place must have been so beautiful."

"And now it is ruins and little more.." She realizes she must have spoken aloud when Yurt's voice reaches her.

She snaps her eyes over to him, the horned helm turning ever so slightly in her direction.

"On your guard." He says, so blandly she refuses to believe it's genuine boredom she hears there. "The demons approach."

Shirou notches an arrow into his bow, Freke draws on his magic as his fingers grip the wand.

There's a roar across the night sky, drawing everyone's eyes straight up to the sight of two monstrously large Gargoyles circling overhead.

The creatures beady red eyes gleam like twin rubbies, eerie trails left in the wake of their movements.

Then the beasts dive!

Rin feels her prana surge beneath her skin, magical energy bending, moulding, shaping beneath the force of her will as she channels the Doll demon's spell, the Soul Ray- a streak of sliver blue brilliance that fires out of her fingertips like an arrow.

It lights them up, as they swerve in a neck breaking turn to avoid it; and for a moment Rin sees that they're not twin shadows. While both Gargoyles are a great deal larger than the ones they'd seen before, their skin color is different, one is green, like a dirty moss, almost brown, the other is a ruddy yellow, almost rust like.

The Yellow one is larger than the green one, bulkier, masses of muscles rippling across his arms and chest, while the other is thinner, but taller, its wings longer.

They split, and Rin follows the Green one, its fast, like a wisp of shadow in the black night. Her Prana surges, ready to be called on again as she feels the ground tremble at her feet, the yellow Gargoyle landing at the center of the bridge, charging them on all fours.

An arrow whizzes past her hair, pin point accuracy driving the shaft right next to the creatures neck. It stumbles, grunting for just a moment before continuing undeterred, the next arrow strikes it in the chest and is ignored completely.

She moves her aim onto this one, the Pranna just there, on the tip of her fingertips when the green Gargoyle is swooping down with the beating of wings claws and talons extended as she ducks, her concentration vanishing for a second before she and Freke are firing up at it, with Soul Rays and streams of blazing fire.

There's a crunch of armored feet at her side and she looked up in time to see Yurt charging at the yellow Behemoth, nine feet of raw muscle dwarfing him as it raised both arms above its head to crush him.

* * *

If there's one thing Archer could say about Ilya, when she put her mind to something. _Really_ put her fully developed eighteen year old mind to something, wholeheartedly the girl was almost frightening.

The magic circle they were drawing was hardly complex, but like all spells, it needed precision above everything else. Not a single line could be out of place, an inch or two off could throw the entire thing out of balance.

Ilya had been drawing it for the better part of a day, following every direction exactly as the Magus book said it should be followed.

Every rune, every line, every scribble and incantation. Right down to even the most minute detail that even Archer had missed.

Finally, as night began to settle over the city the snow haired girl stood, that arrogant smirk spread all over her face again. "Should have been an art major." She joked.

He and Sakura stepped forward, inspecting the Einzbern girl's work as best they could. Neither of them were really experts. And to be honest, Archer's guess at the veracity of this circle would probably be about as valid as his guess in rocket science.

Sakura spoke. "So...what should...I mean ummm...when should we-"

"Well-" Ilya began her lips twisting in thought. "The book says that the hours of Eleven PM to One AM is when we'll get the most effect out of it, and its only nine-So who wants to order Pizza!"

Archer raised an eyebrow, while Sakura blinked, half dumbfounded at this rather breakneck turn in the conversations direction.

Ilya pouted. "Come ooooon. I'm hungry. I've been the one slaving over this circle all day! Its as perfect as I can get it!"

"Well...I...I suppose there's no harm in getting some food."

"Yay!" She was back to her act, once more the little girl. She looks to Archer. "You coming?"

"No." He answers. "You're not leaving the house, servants don't need food. And I'd rather look over this thing carefully."

She pouts. "Ohh you're no fun!"

* * *

Yurt ducks, one massive arm shattering the thick stone pillar beside him as the beast's clumsy swing is delivered full force, his feet slide over the stone, his stance is fluid and quick, his weapons lashing out for quick cuts whenever he can score them, the creature's arms, its legs, its waist, stomach, and back are a canvas of bloodied cuts now. Red fluid seeping from every gash, every wound bleeding, the blood, never allowed to clot with the toxin mix that coats his blades.

But still it seems inexhaustible, its strength unspent, its speed unchanged, its ferocity undeterred. It roars and merely charges with renewed fury every time.

And while it might be inexhaustible, Yurt knows that he is not.

The boy is firing his arrows at it, the mages fling their spells at the gren one, trying to strike it and simply keep it at bay, stop it from swooping down to claw at them with its deadly talons.

But that one is too fast, and this one too strong.

It crouches, hunching on all fours like an animal, a move he's seen from many a predator.

It pounces and Yurt dives underneath it, rolling beneath its massive body as the _wind_ buffets him. He raises his dagger, feeling the familiar sensation of flesh giving way beneath the weapon, the warmth of hot blood falling onto his armor as the beast howls.

He reaches his feet in time for see a tail, the head of a snake hisses at him from the end of it, whipping around and smacking him hard across his chest. It sends him flying, the wind knocked from his lungs as his back smashes against the cage surrounding the roaring fire at the very center of the bridge.

He hears something behind him, a scream, the girl, the crumbling of stone and the shout of the old sage. He ignores it

His eyes snap up, pushing the pain away, rising to his feet. A new, deep, bloody gash has been torn open from its stomach to his inner right thigh, a grievous injury for any creature considering he'd dug his dagger almost hilt deep, but nothing slows it down, it lumbers forward with growls and snarls that hiss yellow steam from between its teeth.

Then, the creature pauses, it takes him a moment to feel it too.

The charge of magic in the air, strong, powerful magic.

He dares not take his eyes from the beast, dares not move to satisfy his curiosity.

"_Trace On!"_

There's a crackle in the air, like the discharge of electricity and moments later the beast is roaring up to the heavens as a howl of pain blankets the inky dark of night at the same time.

* * *

The green monster swooped down, its claws brushing past her hair as she stepped aside, firing off the Gandr curse from one hand as she tried to knock it out of the sky while Freke's fire spells fired off as well.

It was incredibly dextrous in mid air, even if they aimed for where it was going the thing just dived, or climbed or swerved out of the way, weaving its way through their attacks with the beating of powerful wings.

It wasn't difficult to figure out that one was built for speed, the other built for raw, brute power.

She glanced at Yurt and Shirou. The first slipped and slid, his dark armor making him seem little more than smoke given form as the beast's wild swings sought him out, with Shirou firing off arrow after arrow, quickly running out even as the shafts of wood stuck out of the creature's hide from all manner of spots, not paying them any attention.

"Shirou trace already!" She shouted!

She knew why he hadn't, understood it and it all came right down to the same thing.

Shirou was a horrendous magus.

His prana reserves were so low he really couldn't afford to spare the expenditure it would take. He could easily become useless from Prana exhaustion if he got careless.

So he was being careful.

But still, after more than a dozen arrows, and a near empty quiver, enough was enough.

He swiveled his head around to look at her, uncertain, unsure and she glared as best she could.

Then a shadow fell over him.

She screamed, screamed so loud she could almost feel her throat tear itself bloody, her heart rising to choke her, her stomach dropping into a pit.

'_Look out!"_

Shirou noticed it a second later, eyes wide with fear, he dived to the side, his bow clattering to the floor and snapping beneath the weight of a talon clawed foot

He backed up, shifting his weight from left to right as he slid back on his ass, the green gargoyle rounding on him as it stretched its wickedly sharp claws to tear him apart.

Rin's Prana surged forward, firing the most powerful Soul Ray she'd ever mannaged up til now, even as Sage Freke's wand spit out a bolt of red magic.

Both attacks struck true, and Rin just mannaged to catch a glimpse of the Soul ray as it struck the stone stairs beyond, having pierced straight through.

It turns, ignoring Shirou and then it _roars_ at them.

Its like a wall of sound. It slams into both her and Freke, knocking them solidly to the ground, stone pillars crumble, the cobblestone floors chip away beneath the force of whatever magic had let the thing project its voice like that.

She falls onto her back, scrambling to get to her feet as she sees the green behemoth turn once more towards Shirou.

Worry twists in her chest, making her nauseous, queasy. It raises its arms and Rin feels the sudden charge of Prana in the air.

"Trace on!"

She sees it, hears it come into this world with the sound of shattering glass. A beautiful, slender longsword, its jeweled hilt a mark of perfect craftsmanship, its fine edge a gleaming length of silver that placed itself infront of the Demon's fist, rising as the limb descended.

One of them won out.

The weapon of the Silver Demon, even in its simplistic and underpowered state carved straight through the green Gargoyle's fist. Gouging through skin, sinew and bone to rip out of the beasts elbow, severing by half the length of the entire limb.

It howled, pure agony making it draw back with one arm clutching the other as the floor was suddenly flooded with an impossible amount of blood, the red liquid all but bathing Shirou as he shouted, continuing his swing as the silver sword all but sliced halfway into the thing's chest, entering from its right side to cut through ribs and organs.

The creature jerked, then went still, its body staying perfectly immobile, curious as to what exactly was wrong with it.

Then, Rin found her feet again, Gandr and the Soul ray flashing, fire and bolts of Soul magic surging off of Freke's wand, peppering the green Gargoyle's back and ripping him to pieces as Shirou backed away, pulling his sword out just as the Demon's body began to fade.

Then they heard the roar of the other one.

* * *

The yellow monster roared up into the sky, every muscle tense and poised, Yurt crouched low, fully aware of his center of gravity and positioning himself to move in any direction for when the beast attacked.

With the obstruction that was his helmet, he almost missed the green mist, coiling around him, past him. It took him a second to identify it.

A soul.

A Demon Soul.

The yellow beast breathed it in, its power seeping through his skin, the essence of its now dead twin joining his own, melding their power together as one.

Its wings lengthened, its limbs growing wicked claws as its red eyes glowed, the static feeling of arcane energies growing.

Yurt stood rolling his shoulders as he twirled the knife in his hand

The creature roared its steaming breath rushing out from between his teeth as it fell onto all four and charged.

* * *

Shirou felt the stone tremble beneath his feet rumbling with the pounding footsteps as the beast charged. He turned, feeling the creature's burning blood squelching in his sneakers. He barely saw Yurt's silhouette dive to the side before the brazier, filled to the brim with burning oil was thrown, end over end, spilling its fiery contents across the whole bridge in a flare of orange fire.

In reflex he sprinted, running behind a stone pillar, the searing oil splashing across the stone, he felt the heat at his back, tongues of fire licking at his sleeve as it spread across the bridge floor.

He heard Rin scream, half in fright, mostly in frustration, saw her scrambling back, away from the spreading fires as Freke summoned a water spell to spread infront of them.

Shirou stood, the fires rising, spreading with the oil, he saw Yurt at the top of the steps, circling the Beast, a wickedly curved sickle in one hand, his dagger in the other as the beast, towered over him, rising to stand straight, no longer hunched as his wings beat, helping it keep its balance as its tail hissed with glinting fangs, dripping with poison.

It roared, he saw it charging again, its massive fists swiping at Yurt, razor claws attached to limbs of pure muscle as Yurt swerved, ducked and weaved.

Then the tail swipe came.

The serpent seemed to let out a triumphant hiss as it clamped its mouth onto Yurt's leg, the plate armor guarding him from the fangs, but not from his own lack of balance.

His leg was yanked out from under him, his armored body toppling, his sickle snapping in two with the fall, the light weapon was wickedly sharp, but it was not meant for the abuse of an armored man falling onto it.

"No!" Shirou found himself shouting, rushing through the flames, feeling the heat lick at his clothing, hoping it didn't catch, pushing through the fire, this deadly fire that seemed to rise for a moment to swallow him, choking him with the heat, suffocating him with the fumes. The jeweled sword glowed in his hands. The magic circuits felt like static charge beneath his skin.

Yurt rolled onto his back, sliding his upper torso to one side to avoid the massive fist that sought to crush his skull like a melon before he swung, the broken, jagged tip of his sickle burying itself into the soft flesh where the upper arm met the forearm.

The beast roared, its arm buckling as Yurt _pushed_ against the limb, his dagger rising up to plunge itself into the Demon's eye.

It recovered at the last moment, Yurts dagger finding the juncture of its shoulder and neck instead.

It barely gave him pause, its whole head craning around to bite down with bone crushing force onto Yurt's forearm.

The shadow chieftain grunted, gritting his teeth in pain as the beast clamped down, its other fist rising to bring it down on his now immobilized prey.

Then the teeth were gone, the Demon rearing up, howling in agony before it turned around, one careless foot kicking Yurt in the ribs with the motion, sending him rolling almost to the edge before he was able to stop himself.

The chieftain moved to stand looking down as an odd weight shifted over his leg, he saw the snake tail, still coiled around his ankle, long fangs scratching at his armor.

He looked up, finding the boy, holding a long blade in his grip, facing off against the Demon with his knees shaking, a mix of fear and determination on his features.

_'Come now boy. Is that foolish bravado? Or skill?'_

The beast pounced, and claws raked over Shirou's shoulders as the youth fell back with a startled cry, inch long talons digging into the flesh of his shoulders.

Then its wings started beating.

It was a whoosh of air, strong enough for Yurt to feel it through his armor as he stood, the powerful muscles coiling and heaving as it lifted a beast that must have weighed more than a horse along with its prey.

Shirou struggled, the jeweled sword coming up to slice deep into the behemoth's arm, but the beast barely even felt it, or at least gave little indication, its grip tightening, rivulets of blood now flowing down Shirou's clothes and dripping onto the bridge as they rose.

* * *

Its stinking, putrid breath washed over his face, stinking of blood and rotted meat.

They rose, now almost twenty feet above the stone bridge when Shirou heard words that brought unimaginable relief to his eyes.

"You _idiot!"_ Rin screeched up at him and it was only a second before the flash of light that was the Soul ray _ripped_ straight through the demon's left wing.

It roared, the flapping now frantic as it released him in a thirty foot drop, Shirou felt his stomach vanish into a pit, his heart rising into his throat, the terror focusing itself into a pinprick on his mind as he saw that he was veering, falling towards the far edge with the buffeting wind. He would fall off the edge of the bridge. This thirty foot drop now just got extended by several hundred feet.

He screamed.

His grip on the jeweled sword tightened, his only option left.

It glowed with magic, lengthening, empowered as he reinforced it with prana, filling out the flaws, removing the imperfections.

Then he stabbed it into the stone.

It carved itself into the cut rock, but while the blade could handle the force, his arm could not; and with a sickening wrench his limb was twisted right out of its socket.

His cry of agony drowned out Rin's horrified scream as she saw him fall over the edge.

It was agony racing up his arm, a thousand razors cutting through muscle, sinew, flesh and boring right down to the _bone._

Every fiber in his body demanded that he let go, release the hilt just to end the pain. But that very large part of him that wanted to live held on as tight as he could.

Then Rin was there, her black hair falling down over his face, her arms grabbing onto him as she shouted, and somewhere, through the fog of agony and the pounding beat of his own thundering heart that this was probably the most frightened he'd ever heard her. "Freke help me!"

* * *

Yurt saw the old man, and the girl, both falling onto their bellies as the beast tumbled back down to the ground, landing with a thunderous crash.

The shadow chieftain turned, facing the beast fully, muscles coiling beneath his skin, tensing in preparation as the creature picked itself up, blood falling from numerous injuries, the one on its wing the most horrendous as it dripped from the torn membrane.

Yurt still saw his dagger in the Demon's collarbone.

He charged.

His armored feet pounded over the stone, the Demon roared meeting his charge like a rampaging bull.

Yurt swallowed the steps three at a time, never even stumbling in his gait, reaching the lower tier of the bridge past the still burning oil and right at the creature.

It reared up, fist cocked back and when it swung, it threw its full weight into the blow crushing stone and destroying mortar beneath the sheer force of his arm.

Yurt ducked, slipping under the strike around the creature and jumped on its broad back, wrapping his arm around its neck to grab at the dagger.

Then he twisted, and yanked.

A shower of blood and a half drowned groan was his answer.

Yurt felt the stub of its tail striking at his back, grateful the boy had at least removed that one asset from it as the creature finally toppled over, crashing dead to the ground.

Its body glowed as Yurt stood, becoming transparent, thin as gossamer, mists of yellow and green intensified, becoming more corporeal before Yurt saw them drift forward, reaching into the boy on the ground

He stepped forward his armor clicking and clacking as he wiped the blood from the dagger, walking closer to the three.

The boy lay on the floor, features twisted in pain, free hand hovering over his shoulder. Yurt could not say which one hurt more.

The old man already summoned his healing magic the girl fumbling over the injury as she tried to set the joint back into place.

He marched past them, towards the edge, kneeling at the ledge, he reached down, grasping the jeweled hilt and retrieving the blade from where it'd been plunged into the stone.

He eyed it curious stepping closer once more.

He marched back over as the girl sloppily wrenched the arm back into place, watching as the boy yelped with pain, curling in on himself and rolling away from her, his whole face twisted with sharp agony.

"Shirou what about the Demon Soul?" She was repeating the question, reaching over and pulling him back around to face her.

"I can feel it..." He hissed. "But...its under control...I think."

"This is your third Soul now." Freke said Yurt filed away that information for later. "Your body must be getting more and more accustomed to the strain. Your mind adapting faster to subdue them." The old sage brought a fist to his lips, thinking. "Fascinating."

Yurt approached now, boy opened his eyes when he stepped closer, swiveling his attention up to him along with the girl and the old man.

He threw the sword, its fine metal body clattering as it hit the floor between them.

"Pick it up." The Silent chief drawled, bringing his gaze up towards the looming, once pristine Ivory tower.

The crown jewel of Latria; now little more than a blackened, festering scar.

"The Arch-demon awaits."

* * *

"Ok." Ilya breathed, her voice flighty and nervous. "This looks good. Lets get started."

"Umm...What exactly do we do?" Sakura managed to stammer out, eyes going from Ilya to Archer like some fawn caught between two rabid wolves that would lash out at her.

"Well Sakura-chan you..." Ilya reached up, grabbing the timid girl by the hand and pulling her over to stand at a certain part of the circle. "Stand right here." She tapped her feet against Sakura's so she would space them appropriately.

She moved to lead Archer but the Servant was already standing in his proper spot. Her lips pursed in annoyance.

Giving the servant no more thought she reached over and grabbed the items they needed. Shirou's toothbrush and Sakura's hair brush. Both should have the necessary DNA to work. She handed Sakura Shirou's toothbrush, not even noticing Archer's brief hesitation when she offered him Rin's hairbrush.

"Alright, now the both of you are the strongest links we've got to Rin and Shirou-nii. So Sakura, focus all your thought on Shirou-chan and Archer you on Rin. I'll start activating the circle in two more minutes so it'll be fully charged by midnight.

* * *

They were climbing up, But Freke felt as though they were climbing into the bowels of a tomb.

Once, long ago, this stairway gleamed with the light of the sun. Each wall glittering like quarts with the rays of daylight that illuminated it, each step taking one closer and closer to the heaven that must inevitably be waiting beyond such a grand hall.

Now though. Now the walls were rotten, greenish things. Moss and filth hung off them in layers, grime seeped into the cracks and oozed down the surface.

Yurt walked ahead, his steps silent as a crypt despite the armor. Shirou walked just behind him, pale and breathing heavily, his skin gleamed with sweat. Freke was sure that the others were keeping a close eye on the youth. They were steps away from facing an Archdemon, albeit, a very weakened one with the loss of its bloated heart, but an Archdemon never the less.

It was too much of a risk to leave him out of sight, both for his own safety and their own, but just as risky was taking him into this fight where the Arch demon could stir the souls now resting within the prison that was his body.

They could only hope that his will would be enough.

Or that the Demon was sufficiently weak.

Half of him wished this stairwell would be ten times as long as he remembered it, anything to delay, to give Shirou more time to assimilate these foreign creature's he'd just absorbed.

But there was no time and before Freke realized the walk was over they were standing before the shimmering nebulous fog door.

* * *

_Their Lives..._

_Like screeching wails across thought._

_The essence of the living._

_Anathema. Horrid. Disturbing. Perverse._

_Not of this place. They don't belong in this place._

_This was his place. _

_All here were his._

_They come._

_They would be his too._

* * *

Rin hears a scream when she steps through the fog.

It takes her a moment to realize its Shirou's.

It takes her a longer moment to realize she's being just as loud as he is.

Rage.

Such all consuming Rage.

She'd never known such intensity could ever exist. A raw seething _loathing_ boiling through her veins. Pouring fire through her chest.

She want's to burn everything down, to wreathe the world in fire, to _bathe_ in the screams of every single person on this earth. To rot the flesh from their bones, shred their souls asunder and shatter their minds like porcelain.

She would wipe this realm and all others from ever having _existed._

Then its over, the Archdemon's emotions receding, allowing her to be herself again.

She's breathing hard by the end of it, fingers shaking with adrenaline. She looks to Shirou, just barely finding her classmate in time to see him sway with a bout of dizziness before his legs refuse to cooperate anymore.

"Shi-" She catches him a moment before Freke also joins her, holding Shirou up as he clutches at his chest, his entire face scrunching up.

She looks around, searching for the Archdemon, for whatever was causing this.

She sees books. Nothing but books lining every inch of the walls around them. They'd found a library alright. But it would count for nothing if they died before they could even read it.

It was the chairs that showed her where it was.

Hundreds of chairs. Piled atop one another in a mountain of wood and red velvet, a golden throne sat at the very top of this hill. A withered, dried corpse, wrapped in brilliantly gold silk.

At least she mistook it for a corpse...until she saw it move.

It stared straight at her.

* * *

_'Ilya stop! Stop the spell now!"_

"_I can't!" _She screamed, the blue silver glow of the runes becoming a dark, bloody red right before their eyes.

* * *

_His...they would all be **his!**_

* * *

Freke felt the charge of static in the air, the coil and smell of magic. The pull across the ethereal. So much power!

He summoned his strength, allowing Shirou to rest fully on Rin for the time being as a dark red mist billowed across the floor, blanketing the entire room.

Then, rising from this hellish power Freke saw two phantoms. Their outlines red but their bodies black as the most empty void.

One was a man, the other seemed to be a young woman.

Rin's horrified whisper told the older sage that he should be very worried.

_**'**Oh my god.**'**_

And the Demon's voice drifted down to them, wheezing and weak, but carrying such malevolence it could be likened to an entropic curse on their ears, their insides churning with disquiet.

_They are **mine!**_

* * *

Well, here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it.

For those of you who don't know, the Yellow Demon of Demon Souls has only one innate power. To take possession of a Hero across time and space into other worlds and universes (another player) and sic him onto you, (the player) like an attack dog.

Outside of the final boss, this Arch-Demon, in terms of raw magical power is undoubtedly the most powerful of any creature you'll encounter in the game. So, I hope that answers any of the impending questions and again, R&R if you enjoyed it.


	13. Chapter 13

It was Archer.

But at the same time it was not.

She could not see...this creature's eyes...there were no eyes, just two pits of the blackest void.

Then there was the girl next to him. She didn't recognize her at first, her face obscured by her ghostly hair, a smile, so sick and twisted it should barely hold a place on a human face, let alone the shy and timid features of Matou Sakura.

She didn't know how this was possible. She could feel it, almost see it with a sixth sense how this..._thing_ was _reaching_ through the very fabric of universes to do this, simply tearing through the veil of reality as though it were as thin as gossamer.

She wasn't sure just what this was. If this actually _was_ Archer and Sakura or if it was just some ghost image conjured up through her and Shirou's memories or some other form of leech-craft.

Shirou's weight bore down against her shoulder as Freke and Yurt tensed and prepared for battle, clutching at his head as though it were under some kind of assault from within, which might very well be the case as far as she knew.

Regardless...he had to fight this; Now!

They had no time. If this thing even had half of Archer's strength, no Human alive could defeat a Servant. They may not win even with Shirou's help, let alone with him half crippled and a liability.

"Pull yourself together Emiya." She hissed.

Suddenly there was no time left.

The mimicry of Sakura suddenly hunched over, hands fisting her hair, a blood curdling _shriek _ripping itself from her voicebox. Was it agony? Despair? Hatred? None could really say. The next thing Rin saw was Archer leveling a sword-turned arrow her way.

No...not her way...

Shirou.

She pushed him off, just miliseconds before the arrow released like a thunderbolt from the gods, ripping through the air between herself and her classmate and shattering the stonework behind her in an explosion that threw her off her feet and smashing face first onto the floor.

She moved to stand as the sound of battle erupted, the scraping of steel, the scent of magic.

But all she could do was feel the brutal grip of Sakura's fingers around her throat.

She choked, clawing at the limbs that held her as she looked up into the pitch black eyes of _Matou_ Sakura. Bloody teeth revealed in an unnerving smile as she giggled down at her, as playful a sound as one could imagine.

She charged Gandr in one hand, the other powering the Soul Ray as she shot both attacks into this thing's face.

But there was no rush of air, no sudden release of the pressure at her throat, no shriek of agony.

Sakura only kept giggling as the magic broke over her skin like water over stone, those thin, wispy fingers closing over her windpipe.

* * *

Ilya was not a little girl.

She looked like one. She acted like one. Spoke like one. Even enjoyed when people thought of her as such.

But she was not a little girl.

She was nearly twenty years old. She understood things as readily as others, could extrapolate and disseminate information just as quickly as any of her peers, even Tohsaka.

So she knew that this was not a flaw in the design of the magic circle she'd drawn.

She'd activated it, channeling her Prana through the construct as Archer and Sakura focused their thoughts it had been working. She herself could almost feel Rin and Shirou's magical signature through the tangled skein.

Bu then..._some thing_ because she was certain no human could ever feel so _malicious _had ripped straight through her. Like the claws of some beast tearing trough papyrus.

She'd jerked back as Archer felt it as well. He shouted at her to stop the spell.

He hadn't realized she'd already tried. Cutting off the flow of her Prana like shutting a valve. It should have ended the circle's magic right then. But whatever had found them was not willing to let them go so easily and was actively fueling this thing itself.

Archer and Sakura had collapsed.

Ilya's lips thinned into a scowl. Running over and grasping Sakura's hand within just a handful of seconds to try and drag her out of the magic's range.

Ilya was not a little girl. In mind.

But she still only had the strength of one in body.

She didn't know how she was going to remove Archer.

* * *

The phantom moved faster than anything Yurt had ever seen.

He'd shifted his weight, a slight adjustment to his center of gravity, to charge at the distracted enemy, and in that movement the ghost attacked.

Before he knew it he was diving out of the way of yet another immensely powerful arrow, the projectile having just materialized in the specter's hands.

The arrow was launched with the power of a lightning-bolt. Ripping through the air, he felt the impact of the wind against his body through the armor he wore.

He caught his feet, dagger held at the ready as a stream of magical flame rushed from Freke's wand and the wall behind him, books and all, exploded with enough force to nearly knock him off his feet again.

He saw the other ghost pounce on their own resident female, the boy falling to the floor, his entire body covered in cold sweat now as the Archdemon no doubt exercised its will on him, lending strength to the demon souls he'd just taken into himself moments before.

He brought his attention back to the fight at hand. The boy and girl would have to fend for themselves.

The ghost jumped, high into the air, higher than any corporeal creature without wings had any right to jump as it avoided Freke's flames, it rose up til his head nearly touched the impossibly tall ceiling. Yurt saw him notch another arrow.

* * *

Rin could feel her lungs burning, her eyes watered, resorting now to simply clawing at this ghost Sakura's arms and kicking at her with movements that were growing more and more erratic as her mind fogged and her spells failed.

"_**Nee-san..."**_ Sakura's voice pierced the fog, Rin's eyes snapped wide open her staring up at this grinning, leering abomination that leaked tears from its pitch black eyes and smiled as it strangled her.

It giggled "_**You're so pretty Nee-san." **_One hand removed itself from her neck, reaching up to caress her face and Rin renewed her weakening struggles with a new urgency though no air managed to slip past Sakura's fingers.

She felt the rumble and the shockwave of an explosion, though Sakura's words, so close and so insidiously whispered went through her mind first.

"_**Shinji would find you pretty wouldn't he? Maybe he'll rape you this time!"**_

Suddenly her hand was back, like a vice around her neck, no longer choking her this thing was going to crush her laryx as it hissed down at her with a seething, palpable _hatred._

"**_Would you like that Nee-san!? Would you like for me to leave you there? Tie you up and send you to him so you can feel him __moving__ inside you? So he can beat you? Hurt you? Would you like it Nee-san!?"_**

Rin's eyes were darkening, pupils dimming as her struggles finally ceased. Her last sight would be Sakura's smiling face as her own sister killed her.

Then there was ice down her throat, a rush of searing, burning cold coming all at once as the creature above her suddenly vanished, little more than the wisps of red smoke to indicate it had ever been there along with the bruise around her neck

Tears leaked from her eyes in pain filled relief, her whole body convulsing with the sudden rush of much needed oxygen.

She felt static on her skin, smelt sulfur in the air. Prana. She looked up, in time to see Archer take aim at the immobile Shirou.

"Archer!" She tried to shout, but her bruised throat only allowed for the barest hint of a croak to escape her voicebox. "Stop it!"

Her command seal glowed. The last one fading away into nothing, removing her from the Grail war as Archer's Master, a split second after Archer's arrow loosed.

The command seal.

A perfect construct, a symbol, and a tool that demonstrates a Magus' absolute authority over the Servant they have been granted.

Each one of these deceptively simple runic symbols holds immeasurable power, pushing, and exceeding the limits of even Heroic spirits. Only an order that defies possibility, something that can never be accomplished, only that which would conflict with a law of reality directly enforced by the Root of the World, is exempt from the implacable power of a Command Seal.

Rin's final command seal order was as simple as it was complex, finite as it was extensive, broad as it was specific.

But whatever force granted the seals their power, whatever listened to the orders of the Magus and enforced their will onto that of their Servant; it recognized-it comprehended.

Only the truly impossible, would ever be beyond its power.

* * *

_Archer stop it!_

Rin's voice reached two minds, two beings. Both the same but more different than the sun and moon.

Her voice yanked both of these awareness' from their respective torpor. Smashing through the haze of demonic power that surrounded their thoughts drawing them free of the thrall.

Both opened their eyes.

* * *

The arrow fell like the fist of a wrathful God.

The flash of light was blinding, the power knocked Freke right off his feet, it slammed Yurt against the wall. Stones fell from the ceiling as the entire tower shook, masonry crumbled and books caught aflame with the rush.

And Emiya Shirou stood unharmed.

His hand was raised, fingers just barely brushing a membrane of magic just out of reach.

Thin and transparent, shaped like a flower.

The legendary shield, Rho Aias. The seven bands that shield the heavens; crackled with magical discharge as the power of the phantom Archer's projection died away into nothing.

Shirou stepped forward, eyes glassy, almost unseeing. Standing with the eyes of a corpse, wisps of blue fire seemed to burst from his body taking shape, coalescing to form a ghostly image in its own right as the dark Archer's feet reached the ground once more.

* * *

Ilya could not move Archer.

It had taken her some time to even pull Sakura away. A girl that couldn't have weighed more than maybe a good one twenty if she was stuffing herself with chocolate ice cream these last few days.

Archer was a completely different beast.

Nearly six feet tall, if not that, all of which was pure muscle, covered in body armor, combat boots and a thick coat he could very well be three or four times her weight.

Without Sakura this Servant would be going nowhere, and Sakura was out, looking like she may be getting rapidly sick to boot.

Ilya looked at the dark, red glow of the seal, gritting her teeth. It was time to try a different tactic.

If she couldn't push Archer away from the seal, she would just have to try and push this power away from Archer.

* * *

With a thought, twin longswords were held in Shirou's hands as the pantomime aura around his body mimicked his movements, eldirtch energies coiling around him, it formed its own blades, curved, wider along the flat side, shorter in length. Held at the ready, the ghostly image that surrounded his body like a shroud poised itself similarly, its feet and stance the same.

The black phantom's bow dissipated forming its own swords.

The creature ignored Freke. It ignored Yurt and Rin, a roiling anger seeping out of its being and through the thoughts of all those present before it jumped again, rising into the air to fall down onto Emiya with a sound of shrieking steel as longsword and twin blades met the attack head on.

Freke stepped forward, ready to help when Yurt's iron grip snapped over his bicep, holding him back. "No!" The silent chief barked, pointing with his dagger. "The Archdemon. We kill it we can finish this now!"

Freke grits his teeth, turning around to face the near mountain of fine chairs before him as he summons his magic.

But off to the side, another Magus is also finding her feet, for what little good its doing her. Her mouth hangs agape, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief staring at the dead eyed form of her classmate.

It was a whirling dervish of blades, twin swords clashing. Shirou was slower, weaker than...than Archer. But so was this phantom. A shadow of her servant's true power, conjured up through some demonic witchcraft.

Every move was mirrored perfectly, every stance every blow, the muscle memory of _decades _ imprinting itself onto Shirou's own body for this brief window of time.

There was a thundering crash behind her that made Rin duck her head as wooden shrapnel flew overhead.

She turned, rounding on her heel in time to See Freke's fiery magic explode, a sheet of fire engulfing the whole mound of chairs rising up to cover the throne and the demon seated on it with impossible speed.

For a moment she almost hoped that it would be enough. But even as the chairs cracked and split beneath the onslaught she could still see that yellow shroud, untouched by the flames, barely moved by the heat.

The glimmering red blood drops that passed for eyes in that corpse wrapped within it.

She heard the shriek of steel, the shattering of metal and she found herself turning once again in time to see the lightning flash of Shirou's blades clash with the dark Phantom, sparks flying from the powerful weapons both were wielding.

She turned one last time, rounding on the corpse like monstrosity sitting atop his burning throne.

Cut off the head.

Her fingers glowed, once more with the Soul ray and Gandr, as powerful as she could make them before she launched her attack, a continuous barrage of magic, hoping that one would be enough to wound, or better yet, kill this thing.

_'Mine...Mine...this is all **mine**_'

The horrid, terrible whisper speared through her thoughts like a thrown lance. She flinched, fingers rising to her skull as she saw Freke do the same, a crippling agony drilling straight through her temples.

She fell, landing onto her knees as she gasped.

She felt something, warm and sticky trailing down her face to fall onto the stone floors.

She was bleeding.

She reached up, with shaking hands, feeling the blood trailing from her eyes, her nose. She clutched at her skull, at her ears, anything to try and bock out the voice.

She looked up, just in time to see the throne collapse. The mound of wood crumbling in on itself allowing the yellow shrouded body to descend slowly, magic altering the speed of its fall.

She saw Yurt charge into the flames before the pain made her eyes blur and her head spin.

* * *

Ilya was not a little girl.

She stood now in the center of this magic circle, that glowed bloody red, with..._evil_ magic. Every feeling and sense in her body told her to flee, to leave this place, leave this circle and try to forget anything so unbelievably _malevolent_ could ever really exist.

But she was not a little girl.

She was a Magus of Einzbern at heart if not entirely by nature.

And she still had a grail war to win and a Servant to find.

She needed Archer to do that.

So whatever this thing was. It would just have to get in line behind Berzerker.

She was not a talented Magus. She did not have a plethora of skills and advanced knowledge of the primary arts of magic. But there was one thing no one could deny Ilya had in _abundance._

Prana.

Her power _surged _through the circle, flooding it like an overflowing sieve, pushing at the dark energy that wrapped around it, fighting in any way she knew how and in other ways she did not, aiming to reclaim, destroy or otherwise nullify this one link they had to Shirou, Rin, Saber and Berzerker.

* * *

It was the smoke that would kill him. Not the flames.

His armor protected him from the fires, from the heat. It'd been forged long ago, the methods of folding the steel having long since been lost, passed from one chief to the next. Old magic ran in its steel, powerful enchantments molded into the folds of metal by the Ash priests of the shadow lands some time after the first war against the demons, when dark powers were at their height.

But perhaps the ash priests had never intended the warrior within to combat asphyxiation as his enemy.

He held his breath as best he could, pushing through the fires, the acrid smoke that stung his eyes, the tongues of heat that nipped at his heels. Rushing heedless through clumps of half destroyed debris, with nothing but his dagger in hand.

And somehow, some way, he saw this yellow robed monster before him, sitting over the flames, its corpse like face devoid of expression as its red eyes glared up at him.

He lunged, dagger in hand, only to see this shroud, like a sheet of silken iron, rise up and meet his blade with the resistance of rubber, bending at his blow but never giving, the razor edge of the same weapon that had carved open the throat of a Gargoyle now seeming as dull as some apprentice armorer's freshly forged steel.

* * *

Ilya poured every ounce of power she could though her body, Her Prana surging against this foreign presence like waves rising to swallow up the shoreline.

It fought back, and her skull pounded as she could nearly hear an utterly inhuman howl across her senses.

But she shoved back, harder, more fiercely, an endless supply of Prana was at her disposal and she would use every last _drop_ of it.

* * *

The Demon realized it could not win.

Perhaps if they were in the same world. Perhaps if it were not distracted. If it did not need to hold back the flames, subdue the two Magic users, hold the deadly blade at bay, and reach across the very fabric of time and space to clutch at the minds of the now taken, girl child and the more powerful spirit it would have simply overwhelmed Ilya's clumsy, fumbling attempts with its own considerable abilities.

But it was not to be.

* * *

With a sudden lurch, Yurt felt his body fall forward, the knife cleanly plunging itself straight through the corpses rib cage with an audible crack of splintering bone.

The yellow robe whipped past him.

And coiled around the phantomime Archer.

Yurts eyes widened beneath his helmet.

_The demon was never the corpse..._ He realized.

_It was the shroud!_

* * *

When the shroud coiled around this dark Archer's body something in Shirou's instinct driven mind, finally reacted.

* * *

Shirou felt exhausted, a deep, bone tired feeling that weighed him down mercilessly.

Something told him to move, to rise.. And his body struggled to obey, almost without his consent. Every muscle, every fiber of his being roared with the agony of movement.

He wasn't sure where he was, or what exactly was going on. But Shirou could see that he was not alone the instant he got to his feet.

He wasn't sure when they'd got there, because he knew they hadn't always been there. He recognized them both.

The first was the phantom Knight. Though he was seated, legs crossed, body slouched...he seemed...tired, like he had just before vanishing after he'd saved Rin that very first day from Dragonfire.

The ethereal flame around his body flickered, his normally opaque, nebulous form, dim and near transparent.

And as the Knight turned his gaze up to him, Shirou knew that whatever was happening, whatever was tying him to this place would not hold out for much longer.

The second person lay frozen in some form of crystal, but that red coat, tightly weaved black armor and the shock of white hair made him unmistakeable.

Archer.

Shirou did not know what was going on. He didn't know why Archer was here, or the phantom. He didn't understand any of this.

He only knew...somehow...that this would be the last...the last act of this spirit...the last help he would ever get from this sentinel.

The phantom moved then, standing slowly, and the world shifted with the minor lapse in his focus, becoming stiflingly hot, and Shirou felt the familiar talons of some demon clawing at his thoughts for an instant before this place reasserted itself, before he was once again shielded from the monster he had absorbed.

The knight seemed to pause before he moved again, stepping up towards Archers crystal prison before reaching up, placing one hand on its surface while extending the other to Shirou.

The youth stopped, hesitating, not knowing what was offered but somehow knowing its ultimate and final cost.

The phantom waited for another moment before he stepped forward, the one hand leaving the prison and the other striking forward with the quickness of a serpent.

His gauntlet covered fingers wrapped around Shirou's collar and pulled the youth close enough for Shirou to, for the first time catch sight of the eyes beneath the helm.

_Do not..._ He heard, the voice coming from nowhere..._waste it._

Then the phantom reached back once more and placed his hand atop the crystal.

And in an instant the words spilled out of his mouth, emerging from his thoughts like some long slumbering beast rising from the depths of the sea.

_** "I am the bone-**_

* * *

_** -of my sword."**_

It was two voices that reached Rin's ears. Two voices she recognized clear as day and it made her heart sink as the pieces began clicking together to her fast paced thoughts.

_**Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.**_

The same stance, the same movements, Shirou's copper red hair glimmered nearly white with the strange, humanoid aurora that surrounded him, his eyes narrowing into focus as he glared at the now yellow shrouded form of the black phantom.

_**I **__**have**__** created over a thousand blades.**_

Yurt burst out of the flames, tongues of heat licking at his armor as his already harsh voice growled out his next words through a smoke dried throat. **'**It's the Shroud! Destroy the Shroud.'

_Unaware of loss_**-Unknown to death.****  
**

She felt numb, even as she sensed the magic buildup once more from Freke. Watched this mockery of her Servant, gather greater power from this thing now wrapped around it

_ Nor aware of gain_**-Nor known to life**

She blinked, startled, wondering what was going on. What was different now? Why were their incantations changed?

****_**Have w**__**ithstood pain to create many weapons.**_

Her mind reviewed the words, whirling through the possibilities, the procedures, all of her knowledge all of her years of magical experience passing through her mind in an _instant_. Trying to discern what kind of magic could ever hold more than one specific incantation.

_****__Waiting for one's arrival_**-Yet those hands...will never hold anything.**

Only one crossed her thoughts. **  
**

_I have no regrets. This is the only path__**.**_**- So as I pray**

The One magic that no Magus could ever _learn. _That was as unique as blood, as a fingerprint.**  
**

** "Unlimited blade works" **

It came over them with a flash of fire.

* * *

One candle was lit.

The day, and night, was measured with nothing more than these eternal candles.

They could not see the sunlight, nor moonlight, nor starlight. Cut off from the sky save for the one, gleaming ray that descended from the impossibly high ceiling like the shining lance of the gods. It never died out, never flickered or wavered, the Maiden would snuff out those candles and she would light them again at their due.

This was how they could measure their days, how they knew when it was time to rise, and time to sleep.

Biorr was awake, and he could see the single, flickering, faint light of a candle just barely eeking its way out from between the pillars on floor above.

He tried to ignore it, tried to roll and get back to sleep. But it was so odd...so strange to see that his curiosity soon got the better of him. And before he knew it he was marching up the stairs to investigate.

He rounded the corner, and saw the maiden there.

She was kneeling on the floor, legs tucked beneath her, almost in some form of prayer. He would have thought nothing of it, but then he saw her shoulders shake, noticed her hands gripping the candle staff so tight her knuckles were white.

Then he heard her voice.

"Soul of the mind...key to life's ether."

Broken and choked, Biorr nearly felt the breath knocked from his lungs as he realized that this woman was...

"Soul of the lost...withdrawn from its vessel."

Biorr was not a man to flee. But in a second he turned and left, realizing that he was intruding on something very private.

"Let strength be granted...so...so..."

He would realize, some time later, that was the first time he'd ever heard her prayer go unfinished.

* * *

Freke would never gain a full understanding of just what he'd seen this day.

He would ask later certainly. Question, analyze, contemplate and scrutinize; but he would never fully comprehend.

To see an entirely new reality, a world of a single person given life, shape and form, overtaking his own for however brief a time, or however small a space.

He would never see its like again. And as awed as he was he would never truly grasp the magnitude of it.

And so he could never see that it was breaking right before his eyes.

But Rin could.

"Shirou stop! You'll kill yourself!"

Freke's head turned sharply at that, his wonder at this strange, flat world evaporating, the massive gears hovering out beyond the horizon and the blades sticking up from the earth were now ignored as he stared at the glowing youth.

Blood dripped from his eyes and poured out the corners of his mouth. His body simply unable to handle the massive drain of Prana, even with just a few seconds, it was obvious, even to Freke the boy was going to die if this continued much longer.

He looked at the demon, the black phantom tightened its stance, and Freke could almost swear it was in pain.

The sage gave it no further thought, gathering the magic to his catalyst for one of his stronger attacks.

* * *

Some part of Shirou, whatever small piece of him grasped, flimsily at the thin thread of consciousness, could feel himself dying, his body giving out, pieces of himself giving in, shutting down, one at a time.

The blades quivered in their earthen sheathe, and in a moment every single weapon rose to the air, swiveling up to face this creature that writhed and stood, confused by this turn of events.

Then, it rained steel.

The abomination may have been confused, it may not understand what this place was, what was happening, but it recognized danger when it saw it, felt power just as acutely as it did in the waking world beyond the envelope of this one.

Its previous body was a withered corpse, this phantom was not. A decayed, weakened Archer class servant it may be, but it was still a servant, beyond the skill of common mortals, now enhanced by the direct influence of the demonic shroud that enveloped it.

Dodging and weaving between the endless rain of steel, the creature charged at Shirou even as the envelope of this strange, fracturing reality began to wither away like papyrus in vinegar.

It swung, Shirou blocked the first swing, his body so weak now the jeweled sword flew from his grasp a second before the next blade found its way into his stomach.

"No!"

The demon turned, just in time to receive a coruscating bolt of lightning right to its chest.

There was a shriek, and it took everyone a moment to realize it had come from the shroud itself as Freke's power speared through the phantom's middle.

The older man glared as Shirou's blood spread over the ground with shocking speed as he fell. A vein pulsed at his forehead as he poured, all of his anger and hatred for this very same creature that had defeated, and imprisoned him once before into his magic.

He could feel its pain, feel it coiling and writhing as power given form sought to tear it to pieces, but soon it recovered and Freke could feel his strength ebbing, the magic burning his bones, as the demon rebuffed his attack, his own magic now tearing at his muscles.

He couldn't keep this up forever.

Then, suddenly, his own magic was thrown back at him.

Like a ray of light suddenly finding a mirror, the magic arced trough the air and slammed into the Sage's chest. His heart smashed itself into his ribcage, over and over and over again, feeling as though it would explode while his muscles seized up, his teeth biting down hard enough to make his tongue bleed as he fell and convulsed on the floor.

The demon straightened, turning its head to face the oncoming Yurt before its twin blades vanished, replaced by a gleaming bow and arrow. It notched the projectile, pulling back and taking aim.

Yurt charged on.

The arrow was loosed, and the Silent Chief hit the ground dagger still in hand as the back of his armor blackened and scorched with the magical discharge passing just a hairs breath over him.

He moved to stand only to see the Demon already had another arrow notched.

Too fast.

And then there was a sword emerging from its chest.

More importantly, emerging through the cloth of the shroud itself.

* * *

The phantom seemed confused, jerking as it was injured then staring down at protruding piece of metal, the fabric of the shroud, once impeccable was now a mess of cut strings where Shirou's replicated demon sword emerged.

Rin shoved with the weapon, clumsily pushing the demon away from Shirou's prone and bleeding body before kneeling at the red head's side.

"Shirou! Shirou!"

She pulled his head up, swiveling his bleary, half delirious eyes over to her. His mouth opened, weak croaking sounds that could have been words emerging as his eyes grew heavier.

"Don't you dare fall asleep damn you!" The sound of the girl's slap nearly bounced off the walls, the tears brimming at her eyes.

For his part Yurt watched the demon as it stumbled, still on its feet, the creature swayed like a drunk, the shroud slowly beginning to come apart, quite literally at the seams, the threads of spun silk falling away to fade into nothing more than star dust as the reddish black phantom bled out onto a hazy red fog.

The silent chief could almost find the spectacle beautiful.

Beyond the pane of his mortal eyes, the demon sought one final escape, pulling at the thinning tether that anchored him to the world beyond this one. To Archer.

But a whitewash of Ilya's Prana at last severed the tenuous grip it now held, pushing it back through the veil into this world.

He looked to the others, the boy continued to bleed. He was uncertain if he would live, the girl looked on to the soul now forming before them. Concerned. Likely for the boy. He already held one, or was that two, since it'd been two gargoyles, untamed souls within him. Any more and he might very well die.

And Freke struggled to keep himself in the land of the conscious.

At last the soul settled on its intended host.

Yurt would find that he'd experienced worse pain in his life.

The demon's soul was like a sword, still glowing red hot from the forge, plunging into his stomach. He hunched over, tasting acid at the back of his throat, his vision literally turning red as the blood rushed through his eyes, the screams of the thousands..._millions_ of damned, cursed souls this thing had _feasted _on.

His mind strained, every thought like a string of silk slipping between his fingers that could find no purchase, until the voice of his mind and the screams became one and the same.

His teeth clenched, every muscle feeling as though it would snap beneath the sheathe of his skin

He felt the earth, tremble beneath his feet, heard and saw the rocks of the walls crash onto the stone floor, as if the mortar was withering away. The girl was shouting...he couldn't understand. All that existed was this thing coursing through his veins.

He wasn't sure when he fell to his knees, nor when exactly Freke, bleeding and scorched, began to drag him away, towards the Archstone. As the Ivory Tower, the once Crown Jewel of Latria, the seat of the White Queen crumbled and collapsed around them.

He only remembered blinding light before the seething rage washed over his thoughts and the world turned black.

_Soul of the Lost- Withdrawn from its vessel_


	14. Chapter 14

"I should have been there."

Rin had lost count how many times she'd heard Saber say these words, or something similar to them; within the last week. The Servant's self chastising was understandable considering that Shirou had yet to wake up, even after being healed by both the maiden and his own considerable, innate healing

The brunette sighed, turning to look at Shirou's weakened servant as she hovers over the unconscious redhead.

Or should she start labeling him as a "premature gray" as of now?

She shook her head, pushing that thought out of her mind; focusing on Saber.

"Saber. Listen to me." She said, scooting closer; noticing that the servant hadn't even turned her eyes away from Shirou.

She'd said something like this before. And she had little doubt she'd have to say it again before Shirou woke up, but she'd rather not have Saber, wrist slitting depressed on her.

She placed her hand on Saber's shoulder, forcing her to swivel her eyes up for their gazes to meet. "Look...there is nothing you could have done. Alright? Infact, it could have been a lot worse with you there."

"I wouldn't-"

"We don't know what you could or couldn't have done."

She damn near shouted to cut the servant off. "That thing had archer..._my_ archer. I don't know if he pulled it out of my memories or literally dragged him through the fabric of space and time but who knows what would have happened if a _real_ servant had been there. You may be weakened right now but you're still more powerful than any human. If that thing took you...you could have hurt Shirou a lot worse. Or worse we would have had to kill you, if we even could!"

Saber knew she was right. And Rin knew that Saber knew. It was a logical argument, a what if that would have been a hell of a lot worse than what it actually was, with four out of four people injured but none of them dead.

That didn't make staring at Shirou's bloodied, unconscious body simply laying there like a corpse for the last week any easier.

Freke was up and about, and even Yurt, what few times they'd actually seen the man since they'd entered the Nexus, was back on his feet.

Rin still didn't trust that man. He didn't interact, didn't speak, he hid within the palisades and mezzanines and shadows of this place like some wraith. They'd all learned very quickly not to search for him. Yurt liked to be left alone, and half the time you couldn't find him unless he let you.

The Magus focused back on Saber. "Stop beating yourself up over this alright? There's nothing you could have done, and no guarantees that your coming wouldn't have made things a hell of a lot worse."

Saber's features twitched in displeasure. Eyes turning back down towards Shirou. Rin could tell though, the message had been received. At least for the next six or eight hours. Then she might have to do it again.

Rin shifted, trying to get back to her book before something caught her eye.

It was white, luminous, transparent.

It was a ghost.

"What the hell?"

* * *

Shadows.

This place...this nexus...had many.

They were his friend, his ally, his sword, shield and armor. The others scurried about like ants down below, chatting and whispering

Oblivious.

Stupid.

He turned his eyes, finding her; melting free of the shadows, dressed in black, a a gold ballroom mask obscuring her beautiful face.

"Have you recovered my knight." Her voice, as sensuous as sin, smooth as velvet.

Yurt watched her for a moment. "Not yet. Perhaps in another day, two at the most."

"You must hurry my Knight."

Yurt turned to her, away from the scurrying ants down below. "Is the boy giving you trouble?"

"He is growing stronger. For some reason, even my magic will not maintain him subdued for anything more than another fortnight."

"Soul arts." He hissed.

"No." The woman drawled. "This is something else. Stronger. Remember, the maiden first. Then the monumental."

Yurt nodded. "Two days. Nothing more I swear."

The woman smiled, reaching out to caress the side of his helmet, he could almost feel her touch on his own flesh. "Be careful of the boy. My knight."

Then she vanished back into shadow.

Yurt turned his eyes back towards the ants. Only to now find something curious...

Phantoms.

* * *

"What is this?!"

Rin's voice carried over through the whole Nexus, but it mimicked everyone elses feelings on the subject. Freke and his student, the parish members, Stockpile Thomas and even Boldwin were stumbling around the main antechamber heads swiveling this way and that way as white, flame covered ghosts, wandered around the entire Nexus.

She saw Freke reach out, his hand passing straight through a ghost that floated by as some of the other people of the nexus shied away or glanced around in wonder. "Fascinating." The Sage muttered, his hand coming away with smoky wisps of white flame.

"What in the bloody hell is goin' on here?" Boldwin growled, his blacksmith hammer clutched in his hands.

No one really had any answers, so they all simply kept on gawking at the floating, passerby ghosts.

A sound like a drop of water over a pond. The nexus' starlight floor ripples like a still, clear pool.

Rin's eyes turn towards the maiden, emerging from some hidden alcove somewhere, wax covered eyes as blank as ever. "The baneful fog. It has weakened. The lost Souls can more easily find their way."

Like a lightning bolt shooting through her thoughts. Rin was suddenly flying down the stairs, ignoring Saber's surprised look. "Wait wait wait wait wait." She cried, feet _clack clack clacking_ over the stone stairs.

She ran right up to the candle maiden, staring straight into the places that would have shown her eyes. "Are you saying that the Fog. The same fog that kept us from reaching the royal Archives in the palace of Boletaria is weaker now?"

"Thou hast slain two, of five Archdemons. The Old One uses the Archdemon's as tools, to expand the fog, and consolidate his hold over the already consumed lands."

Rin's jaw worked a bit as she thought, the gears in her head turning. And the brunette was sure Saber's own mind was working in that same direction.

"Are you telling me...that if we beat whatever Archdemons are left...that fog over the Boletarian palace will vanish; and we'll be able to get into those archives?"

"It will not vanish. The demon, the one that stands at the height of the palace tower, within the very throne room. It stands as the strongest. The fog will always be present."

"But if we kill the Archdemons, will the fog weaken enough, to get us through?"

"It will."

Rin's eyes snapped up towards Saber.

One weakened Servant, an injured Magus and an unconscious...future servant? and only one of them in any reliable condition to fight at the moment.

Against three more Archdemons...

She was trying to think of worse odds they'd been in.

"I don't suppose sleeping with you will give us a fighting chance on this one eh?" She shouted up to the blond Servant, much to her mortification as literally everyone's eyes swiveled around to them. Even the Maiden seemed to reel in surprise.

Rin smirked a little...only the barest hint of an apology on her lips as Saber's cheeks flush red.

* * *

Biorr shook the waterskin over his open mouth, growling as nothing but drops fell over his cracking, chapped lips. "Damn." The giant man snarled. "Was hopin' for at least another drop."

Ostrava looked back, over his shoulder. "There's still a functional well in the plaza of Gabriel.

"Then if ya don't mind my sayin' my prince we need to get there. It'll be dark soon, and I'd rather not spend a full day without any water. Thirst saps the strength as much as hunger does."

Ostrava nodded, sparing another look around the corner. The boy might seem overly cautious after hearing little more than the crows for the last day or so, but better overly cautious than overly dead.

"Alright. Lets go, I'd rather not get caught out in the open at night Ser."

They weaved through the alleys, the causeways, the narrow streets and gutter passages.

With nothing impeding them, it was not long before they reached the Plaza of First Knight Gabriel Loken.

Not even the horses had any flesh on them anymore. The white of bone, providing an entirely new feeling of disquiet, one brought on by sheer...stillness...as opposed to the disquiet of bloated, rotting meat.

"Keep a lookout." The prince ordered, extending his hand for Bior's water skin before rushing with both sacks to the well.

He pulled on the lever, cringing at each squeaky roll of the hinges before water finally rose from the nozzle, pouring into the skins.

It was only when he was halfway through filling the first that he saw Bior's hands lash out and Ostrava stopped his movement dead, slowly lowering the lever back down to avoid it making too loud a sound.

It was two maddened soldiers that he saw first, a rope over each shoulders as they heaved on something, down the alley and across the road. He finally released the lever and ducked behind a building, slowly drawing his rune sword free of its scabbard. He dared a glance up the alley as the men slipped out of sight behind a building, two more men appearing just a second later, one was laughing, possiblyat the ones that were pulling. Ostrava was too far to make out the words.

Soon enough those men too stepped out of sight and finally, whatever the men were dragging came into view. And Ostrava's heart dropped.

It was a woman, scraggly black hair, her clothing, black and heavy, literally in torn shreds from what he could see. She was unconscious, being dragged face down across the cobble stone streets by her bound wrists...

The princeling looked at Bior, seeing that the anger present there was matched by the older man.

Then they saw another woman.

Or at the very least, it had the shape of one.

Dressed as a vagabond, tattered clothes with thick, heavy linked chains acting as a belt around her waist and a wrap over her shoulder. A massive axe was in her laughably small grip, hoisted there as though it weighed little more than a feather. The most disconcerting thing above all however was that ghoulish cowl.

Sack cloth, her eyes were black, shadowed pits, her mouth a macabre grin, given emphasis by thick stitching, as though her lips were sealed shut. She moved to follow the four men.

Bior's hiss was unmistakeable. "Miralda."

It was so low, Ostrava could barely make it out. But either he had the ears of a deaf old man, or Miralda could hear a mouse skittering across a table in the next house because quick as lightning, her gaze snapped over to their direction.

The two warriors ducked back into their hiding spots as though the gaze had seared their flesh.

They waited, a few tense moments passing before Ostrava dared another peak.

He just barely saw the soldiers long shadows as they continued walking.

Bior drew his sword before the Princeling reached up and stopped him.

"What're ya doin my prince? We have to rescue the prisoner!"

"Bior, that's just it." He hissed back. "They're taking her prisoner. _Taking _her to a _prison_."

The knight looked lost for a moment before realization came over him.

"You mean to follow and find more we can rescue."

The Prince of Boletaria nodded. "Aye." he stepped away, moving behind an old crate. "Stay low for now lets see if we can reach the rooftops.

* * *

"_**Nee-san..." **_

_That voice snaked through her mind. Poison in every word, acid down her spine, Ice in her veins. _

"_**You're so pretty Nee-san." **_

_The seemingly kind words made her skin crawl. Made her stomach churn with cold disquiet._

"_**Shinji would find you pretty wouldn't he? Maybe he'll rape you this time!"**_

_She felt bile rising in her throat. Felt those fingers once more coiled around her neck; felt them squeezing._

_The laugh returned, insidiously child like. Innocent and lilting. Disturbing in its beauty._

"_**Would you like that Nee-san!?"**_

_The voice changed now...something malevolent seeping out from the vocals. A cruelty._

"_**Would you like for me to leave you there?" **_

_There was more than anger here...more than something as simple as __such a base emotion._

_This was hatred...a jealous hatred._

_Hatred for the sister that had nary given the other a second thought all these years._

"_**Tie you up and send you to him so you can feel him **__**inside?**__**M**__**oving**__**? So he can beat you? Hurt you?"**_

_And yet...there was more here...more that she shied away from more than anything else. More than the hatred, more than these claw like fingers digging into her throat. More than the anger, the words..._

_Madness_

"_**Would you like it Nee-san!?"**_

The last howl brought her from her slumber, waking with a startled jerk. The brunette magus was barely able to bite down her own scream as she opened her eyes, the orbs swinging this way and that way before she remembered where she was.

Her heart pounded a staccato rhythm in her chest it was slow to regain its normal pace as her fingers tingled from the rush of adrenaline and her body shivered in cold sweat.

She sat up, arms coiling around her raised knees.

Whatever happened to Sakura...if it really had happened to her...was not her fault. She was no more responsible for _Matou_ Sakura than she was of anyone else...

It. Was. Not. Her. Fault.

* * *

"_You. Have you seen my corporeal flesh? I must retrieve an article from my corpse."_

The words startled Saber. Every phantom, or spectral presence they'd seen so far acted as though they were still alive. The most far gone of them still struggled and fought against the air as though the enemy that had slain them was standing right in front of them.

She looked around, blond strands of hair tickling her cheeks as she search.

She found him, looking like a man fumbling in utter dark, turning this way and that way, searching.

The king of knights stepped forward, cautious. The weakness the Demon had brought onto her was...humbling...to say the least.

When she was just five feet or so away the spirit turned, facing her completely. A harried look was on those transparent features; but his voice was polite. "My lady, I ask you, have you seen my body? I must find something there."

"You know that you're dead?"

"I do." He answered. "How could I not? My last memory is that of a wraith's blade, driving itself through my chest. But there is something I must retrieve, something important. Have you-"

"No." She interrupted, "No...I'm afraid I haven't seen your corpse."

The ghost's lips pursed, nearly resigned now. "I wonder if you'd even recognize it any more. I cannot tell how much time has passed. Is my flesh pallid, rotting or gone I wonder."

He turned to her, almost startled at her presence. "Forgive me...I should not trouble a lady with such grotesque words. I must leave. I must try to find my corpse."

"Wait!" She shouted after him as he moved to vanish into a wall. "What is your name?"

"Rydell, my lady."

Then without another word he stepped into the cold granite of the Nexus wall.

* * *

Biorr shuffled on his stomach, his much heavier, Brushwood armor making it vastly more difficult than Ostrava's more flexible Fluted style. When he finally reached the edge of the rooftop he was breathing as though he'd just made a run of half the kingdom rather than the four or five feet he'd had to drag himself across.

"The western guard barracks?" The old knight questioned aloud. "That's no place to be holdn' prisoners."

"No, but perhaps they don't have many." Ostrava suggested.

A dark thought crossed Bior's mind then. "Or perhaps these madmen have found they've got baser urges on the mind now that the bloodlettin's done."

It was a thought that no doubt turned Ostrava's stomach. "Wouldn't they use lady Miralda then?"

Bior scoffed. "Wouldn't let that woman near my parts. More likely to bite it off...with either set"

"We can't leave her there." The prince determined. "But we can't exactly march in through the front door can we?"

There was only one visible entrance to the two story tower, the narrow bridge that led right to its front gates, the water surrounding the tower was one of two rivers that cut straight through the city of Boletaria and its fortresses.

"My prince." The boletarian knight questioned. "How good a climber are you?"

* * *

The eerie, ghost like quiet of the Boletarian nightfall was broken rather abruptly by the sound of a bellowing shout.

"_MIRALDA!"_

Biorr stomped to the middle of the bridge, his greatsword drawn, banging it against his armguard. "Come on out wench. Your own execution is long overdue! You and your pretender on the throne!"

There was a clamor of noisy footsteps within the structure. Port holes opening with crossbow bolts peeking out of the openings. Each one ready to run him through.

This was a gamble in its entirety. There was nearly fifty feet between himself and the alley behind him where he would find some cover

But Miralda was notorious in her loyalty to whatever demon up there posed as the king. She would not let that insult go unpunished by anything less than her own hand.

At least...he hoped so.

Otherwise he was going to get a mouthful of quarrels for his trouble, and his prince would be down one Knight.

Luckily, he was proven right a few moments after his bellowing the front gate of the Barack house creaked open, Miralda's ghoulish form marching out, that monstrous axe in hand.

* * *

The water was freezing.

It was freezing, and his thin pair of breeches and tunic did little to help him fight off the cold.

Not for the first time did Ostrava bemoan the fact that folds of steel weren't exactly buoyant.

As it was, carrying his sword was nearly enough to sink him.

But it was with immense relief that he affixed himself to the stone rock-face that made up the foundation of the guard barracks, clinging there like some overgrown leech.

When he heard Bior's shout, and the creak of an opening gate Ostrava started climbing.

The rock face was easy, the Barack's wooden structure wouldn't be.

He moved to rise behind the barracks, opposite the bridge.

The plan was that, hopefully, the soldiers within would have their attention up front, allowing him to freely climb on the few windows and port holes along the back of the structure to reach the only other entrance, the roof.

As he heard the clashing of steel against steel Ostrava tried to move a little faster.

* * *

"Thou must not strain thine-self."

The maiden's voice, normally a soothing sound to those within the nexus served to merely grate on Saber's nerves right now.

"I'm fine." The servant replied, wringing out a linen cloth to place it on Shirou's forehead.

"Thou must rest. It hast been nearly a fortnight since last-"

"I said I'm fine!"

The servant immediately regretted her impatience, knowing it was unwarranted.

She was startled to feel a hand on her shoulder. As far as she knew, for the entire time she'd been here, the Maiden had never physically touched anyone, even during healing, her hands merely hovered over the flesh with gentle magic.

The young lord will be alright, is spirit is strong as is his body. Thou shouldn't worry so."

Saber nodded.

Then she stiffened.

Though weakened, she was still a servant, she was still the King of Knights, her senses, her instincts far sharper than any human, her entire purpose was centered around battle.

In an instant, Excalibur was in her hands, her simple clothes replaced by armor.

She danced around the maiden, her blade rising and meeting Yurt's curved sickle.

She grit her teeth, pain blossoming from her chest and spreading to every limb as the untamed demon soul within her stirred at the rush of her power.

"Don't!" She heard the maiden whisper at her back. "I may not be able to subdue it once again."

"You should listen." Yurt growled, voice a hollow snarl from beneath his helmet. "You are not my target."

Saber grit her teeth, grunting before shoving back as harshly as she could, Yurt fell with the force, rolling smoothly onto his feet.

The horned shadow stood, taking a stance as Prana surged over his body, malevolent and blood red.

The power of the Avarice demon."So be it then."

* * *

Rin was trying to shovel down the, tasteless, barely edible gruel that was available since Shirou's bout of unconsciousness when she felt the surge of energy.

She looked around, confused for a moment before her ears picked up the faint sound of steel striking steel.

"Something's wrong!" She all but barked as she shot to her feet, she took quick stock of who was with them right now, Boldwin, Thomas, Freke, some of the devoted to Umbasa, only Freke's student was out of sight; so besides him, that left only Shirou, Saber, the Maiden, Yurt, Ostrava and Biorr and out of that whole list two people were at the top of her priorities.

Freke stood up, setting aside a book. "What's the matter?" He called, only for her to hear the ringing of steel against steel again.

"Out of the way!" She yelled at One of Umbasa's devoted, all but shoving the man as she rushed up the stairs towards where Shirou was being kept, no doubt Saber was right there with him.

* * *

Excalibur all but sang in her grip, the ringing of steel, the rush of battle, Saber could feel it all returning but fading just as quickly.

The demon was waking.

Every new strike would soon be delivered with less force

Every block would drain her more

Every parry and riposte would be delivered with less speed, less precision.

Yurt was a human empowered by a demon, she was a servant crippled by one.

She was going to loose if she did not _end _it quickly.

She still had enough in her to finish one human, bolstered though he may be.

Yurt charged, and steel kissed once more.

She blocked the first strike, then the second that came overhead.

The third she parried.

A strong blow, tossed aside with all the skill a servant of her caliber could wield.

Then she attacked, leaping onto, and off the wall at their side, she twisted over him, excalibur punching through the dark armor to find purchase in mortal flesh at last.

But something was wrong, it was not blood that coated her blade now.

It was evil.

Red, and black, whatever prana seeped through the narrow opening in Yurt's armor lashed out at her, like whips of thorns, all but exploding from his shoulder.

She pulled away, dodging and weaving as these things struck at her, seeking to cut her like she'd cut him.

One found her.

It was a scratch...nothing but a touch across the back of her sword hand as she cut it away mid retreat.

It sent fire through her veins.

Every nerve lit up in agony, the demon within seemed to wake with a primeval roar, battering once again at the gates of her soul.

Saber gasped, nearly strangled, clutching at her chest, she fell to her knees, her vision going white with the rush of the most unbridled pain she'd ever felt in her life.

What was left of her conscious thought struggled...struggled for something, anything. Grasping and fumbling for some purchase, some focus, but there existed only pain.

Pain and the Demon's presence boring through every thought, brought to full bare as it sensed its kin so close.

* * *

Yurt turned away from the Servant, knowing the woman was no longer a threat, facing the maiden, who still stood before Shirou, her candle staff in her hands.

He stepped closer, like some beast stalking prey before he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

He shifted his grip on his knife, fingertips now gripping the weapons tip before throwing it.

It spun through the air, end over end, and sank itself hilt deep into Rin's stomach as she rounded the corner.

* * *

Nothing much to really say, more things will happen in the next chapter and in the one after that we'll be touching on Archer Ilya and Sakura once more. Hope you enjoyed it. Read and Review


	15. Chapter 15

If only the room would stop moving, maybe she could think straight.

Her throat felt dry, the back of her tongue tingling, like she was nauseous, pins and needles spreading across her fingers and toes.

And the room just wouldn't stop...moving...

If...if it would just...

She felt the wind knocked out of her, suddenly wincing at the piercing, white light from on high.

When had she fallen?

She blinked. Was this how Shirou felt? No wonder the idiot had decided to sleep for a week...

Something cut off the blinding light. Someone leaning over her. She couldn't make out who it was. Was it Shirou? Thomas? Freke?

"Not...another question." She mumbled, nearly pleading, in case it _was_ the older sage.

Her hand cradled the wound, red blood seeping from between the edges of the knife, spilling over her fingers to pool onto the floor.

* * *

Biorr roared as his great-sword chipped the cut stone of the bridge's edge, Miralda dancing away once more before she lunged into a renewed attack.

The madwoman was relentless, howling and wailing as she struck, every blow of her ax met the edge of his sword. She got in close, too close for him to take advantage of his greater reach; though he doubted that was intentional strategy on her part; the witch just wanted blood.

Up above, Ostrava pulled himself up, and over the edge as quietly as he could. A lone guard peered down the other side towards the fight below, a bow slung over his shoulder, sword sheathed.

The prince of Boletaria, crouched, drawing his sword as quietly as he could.

Grabbing the man by the mouth, his rune-sword was soon poking out of the his stomach.

He peered down, listening and watching the clash of enchanted steel against black iron for a moment before he opened the port door and slipped inside.

* * *

Yurt turned once more towards the maiden, sickle blade in hand, he reached forward, grabbing her by the throat he dragged her close, ready to carve her demonic neck open.

_AAAAARRRGH!_

The blade came from nowhere, a flash of blue silver before his arm was cut open, armor rent as he backed away, loosing his grip on his weapon.

A phantom stood beside her.

Another soon joined it.

And another...and another...

Power crackled over her form, a near static charge in the air as the maiden held her staff aloft.

_'Soul of the lost withdrawn from its vessel...'_

* * *

The monumental was aware.

The monumental was always aware.

More than any other creature he was aware.

Aware of the old one. Pushing and straining against his tenuous hold, more powerful every day he became. Weakened now, only by the two slain Archdemons.

Aware of the world, its sheer..._stillness. _Most true, still living, breathing, _sane _creatures gone now. Only a scattered populous remained, thinning out all the more with each passing day.

Aware of the death, the chaos, the lost.

Aware of the blood being spilled here...in this place. The sanctum, he and his had forged long ago.

Aware of the one who now pretended to usurp his control over it

He went beyond these walls. Beyond the boundaries of this plane, this place of existence and found her there.

Robed in black, a golden mask over her face, framed by silver hair.

They stood upon a field of nothing.

And here they would fight as only true magi can.

* * *

The whole Nexus fell into darkness in an instant.

Then light returned and vanished to leave only oily shadows cast by the flickering flames of lit candles.

Yurt gave it only a moments thought. _'Thank you my lady.'_

The shadows became his armor as the phantoms charged.

He drew two more knives, drawing himself into the dark, and the flashing of steel heralded the wailing deaths of every ghost as he cut them down once more in death as they were cut down in life!

But more and more rushed forward, summoned, drawn to or simply called and answering, they formed a wall between him and the black clothed _witch._

He reached in, somewhere deep inside, where the power pooled.

It emerged again, uncoiling like a viper in his chest.

The spirits quailed, screaming in terror, in agony, as the power of the beast that had swallowed their essence and raped their land was once more standing before them crawling over them to devour their souls.

Only one remained standing stronger than the others, guarding the maiden he held a staff in his hand, a long, silver cloak adorning his shoulders.

Yurt recognized this one.

And it recognized him.

"You!" Rydell shouted, charging into the darkened shadows with a roar.

* * *

The wood creaked beneath his weight, and the sound was unnaturally loud in his ears, even as it was drowned out by the guards, cheering as they stared out their windows and port holes.

The prince looked around, searching desperately for the prisoners that should have been here.

But he didn't see any.

Only soldiers.

Soldiers, and the whimpering figure, clothed in black rags huddled in a corner, blindfolded and gagged.

Ostrava looked around, four soldiers at the window, crossbows in hand, a single armored knight down below, pacing like some caged animal.

* * *

Biorr's helmeted head came down on Miralda's with a nauseating crack that sent the madwoman stumbling like a drunk, giggling in a stupor, blood oozed out of her mask around her nose and mouth as her shoulders shook with laughter.

"I can't die." She howled. "I can never die! My king wants me alive!"

Biorr roared, once more bringing the full weight and power of his weapon to bear. Miralda's axe met his enchanted steel once more, and this time he was pleased to see her defense nearly buckle. For all her madness the woman was as mortal as he, she was tiring.

With renewed fervor he attacked, swinging again and again and again, hacking and hammering. He would never match her speed, so he would use sheer brute force to wear her down.

Then, the front of the tower's second floor went up in flames.

* * *

Ostrava would never underestimate the dangers of an oil lantern ever again.

He'd picked the lantern from its hanging place on the wall, ignoring the heat that seared the skin of his palm before throwing the glass at one of the soldiers.

He'd hoped to take down one, and in his panic, at best, he'd eliminate or injure one more as he flailed around on fire. Leaving just the last soldier and the knight down below, who still had to climb up a flight of stairs to reach him.

He'd not expected for the glass to shatter and the fire to just..._envelop_ the whole platform. The flames spread like a sheet thrown over a bed and all three soldiers howled as their clothes and flesh went up like tallow.

There was a shout of rage and the prince looked down as the blue armored knight charged up the stairs, having spotted him.

The prince moved on instinct, following through with his thought before he allowed himself to hesitate.

He lunged, down from the third story to the winding stairs of the first where he landed right on the Knight's back. With the helmet narrowing his vision, the man was caught completely by surprise as the prince fell over him from nearly twenty feet up.

Ostrava was surprised too truth be told.

How could he not be, when half the stairs collapsed beneath their feet with an ear splitting crack of wood and both he and his armored opponent fell straight through.

* * *

The flare of sudden firelight made Biorr wince, and in that second Miralda's axe cleaved through armor to bite into the flesh of his shoulder.

Biorr screamed, his off hand going around the shaft, holding the weapon as Miralda pressed down, bringing him to a knee as his sword arm nearly lost all strength.

"_Hehehehe._" The ghoul giggled like a drunken wretch. "Down down the twins they go. Down down into the twin rivers. Two for two now. Two for two!_ Hehehehe."_

Biorr's eyes flashed her words sinking like a cold knife into his gut. Vallarfax had broken through the fog. He'd mannaged to call for help.

But he hadn't seen his brother since that fateful day he marched off into the fog.

This _bitch _had...

With a roar Bior stood once again, his wrist snappingthe shaft of Miralda's ax at the neck, and just above her grip, leaving him with a jagged piece of shrapnel in his hands.

He punched down with the improvised weapon over her chest... once, twice, a third time and with a shower of dark blood the madwoman fell over the rails of the narrow walkway down into the black waters below.

* * *

The phantom's weapon glowed like white fire, the staff in his hands pushing back the darkness that fell over the halls of the nexus like the pall of a crypt. Its eyes were wild, maddened, searching for its murderer as this one hid and skulked through the darkness.

He turned, snarling as his staff struck the steel of a dagger with a flash of sparks before Yurt once more vanished into the twilight as Rydell chased after his fleeting ghost.

Behind him. The maiden frowned.

Then a knife, little more than a thread of glimmering light, emerged from the gloom, sinking down to its hilt into her stomach.

Her face didn't move save for a crease of her brow, kneeling slowly, as if she were merely going to examine Shirou once more.

One hand reached down, pulling the blade free with deliberate calm as the wound hissed and closed as though it were never there, the flesh and clothes knitting themselves whole.

She could hear his armor as he moved, somewhere in the black, hiding from even her means of vision. Rydell howled with rage somewhere beyond, still searching for the attacker he hadn't yet realized had slipped behind him for his true prey.

Then suddenly, there was light, blinding, searing white light that cast away the darkness, drew Yurt from his armor, exposing the Silent Chief.

Then lightning threw him back.

Freke's features were a mask of fury, magic emerging from his finger tips as Yurt reeled, the lightning making the Demon Slayer fall to his knees as his body crumpled beneath the onslaught which only increased in ferocity as Yurt dispelled the light he had cast in one hand and used that one to attack with flames as well.

Yurt never cried out. Only a groan escaped the prison of his helmet as Freke's considerable magic bore down on him.

Finally, as Freke's attack ceased, there was little more than a smoldering pile of charred armor infront of him.

The sage panted, breathing heavily through his mouth.

Then a hand snaked its way around his neck.

The floor of the Nexus was awash with blood in the next instant.

* * *

Ostrava groaned, pushing himself to stand, the crownless prince found his enemy beside him; quite literally, haven fallen on his own sword. The blade having slipped beneath the man to cut open the unarmored underside of his arm a massive pool of blood spread out beneath him, indicating it must have cut the artery there.

The prince picked himself up, trying to remember where he was and what he was doing for a second before he remembered the woman. He climbed the stairs, leaping over the three or so broken ones, he managed to make it to the second level platform.

He looked around, finding her huddled in a corner, hands and feet bound, a sack over her head.

He moved to her, watching as she flinched as she sensed his approach.

"Its alright. Its alright." He said, trying to reassure her as best he could. "I'm here to help, my lady."

He reached forward, pulling the sack from her head, finding a tear stained face, lips constricted by a gag a dark purple bruise framed the right side of her face. She stared up at him as though she wasn't sure to trust.

He reached forward, undoing the gag first. "Can you walk?"

"I..." She coughed, her voice hoarse and dry and only getting worse with the heat and the smoke. It was soft though, as if the girl was timid "I believe so..."

"Good, come on." He said undoing the ankle binds and leg binds next.

He took her hand, helping her stand "We have to leave quickly!"

* * *

The shadows of the Nexus vanished, the unnatural dark receeding for a moment as the monumental regained control of his construction.

The light only showed that little more than a half crazed phantom stood between Yurt and his victim.

Saber focused on that thought, that feeling. The feeling of helplessness...of powerlessness. It was a focus beyond the pain, beyond the agony of the Archdemon seeking to rip her to shreds from the inside out.

Slowly...the Servant reached her feet. Just as Rydell attacked once more.

"_Don't_." She heard the Maiden's soft voice. Like the chime of a bell across the surface of her mind. Arturia turned to her, finding the woman's wax covered eyes. "_Don't...I cannot save thee again if it is roused further._"

As if to confirm her words, Saber hunched forward, a sharp, fresh pain ripping across her stomach as she coughed up blood, her vision going blurry and out of focus.

She heard a scream. A cry of howling rage before she looked up, Rydell's phantom form vanishing like so much dust as he was slain once more his ghostly fingers coiled around Yurt's neck as his spirit was dispelled.

Yurt turned, stumbling, and she noticed his left arm hung limp.

Was it broken? Could she use that?

The servant mustered all of her remaining will just to bring Excalibur to bear onto a fighting stance. She could feel her temples pounding, the blood rushing through her body as though it was about to burst from her veins as her skin was lit aflame.

The half crazed phantom was gone.

Now it was merely a servant with both feet in the grave.

_'Trace On!'_

Her heart nearly stopped.

* * *

Ostrava shoved the gates open with his shoulder, pulling the girl along behind him, away from the fires that seared the wood over their heads. They ran out to the walkway.

"Biorr!" The prince yelled, running up to the man and kneeling beside him.

The Twin Fang panted, the axehead still embedded in his shoulder. "Got that bitch good I did Prince."

Ostrava nodded. More concerned with the ax. He walked around the man, gripping the ax as best he could before pulling.

Biorr very nearly barked with pain as the edge of the ax came loose with a sound of scratching steel and wet flesh.

The Twin fang Reached down into his wineskin, bringing it to his lips before taking a long drink from it.

He pulled the skin away from his lips as Ostrava tossed the ax-head asside. The Knight breathed harshly. His breath fogging in the cold air.

"We've got to move..." He said. "The smoke and light will attract every madman within vision range."

Ostrava nodded, reaching down and helping the last of Boletaria's twin Fangs to reach his feet.

The knight turned for the first time, looking at the girl shivering in cold before him. "Was there no one else?"

"None." Ostrava answered.

"The one is enough." The Knight bowed. "My lady. Let us escort you from this place."

The woman nodded, stepping closer. "Yu-" She swallowed, pausing as both men's curious gazes turned to her. "Yuria. My name is Yuria."

* * *

Yurt stared at the boy, an arrow was notched into a bow, both weapons had formed from thin air around his hands.

"Shirou."

The boy's eyes didn't move at his pained Servant's words, though his worry shone through regardless. "Stay there Saber." He said, halfway between a demand and a plea.

The shadows returned.

As though the sun was setting on this world it was bathed in increasingly black shadows. And before their very eyes. Yurt vanished into the gloom.

Shirou felt his brow bead with sweat, swallowing as he kept a firm grip on the bowstring.

His heart palpitated in his chest, his palms were sweaty with nervousness.

"_Sh-_Shirou." Saber's pain filled voice nearly distracted him. His Servant was just a few feet away, worse than he'd ever seen her.

He breathed, inhaling through his nostrils as a foreign...it was not confidence...it was necesity...He _had_ to win. He couldn't let anything more happen to Saber.

He felt the ache in his arm, his shoulder, the tense bowstring shaking with the strain of keeping it taut.

"Left!" Saber's shout bounced off the walls

He turned, heeding her warning. He couldn't see...couldn't aim...he pushed Prana into the jeweled sword now turned arrow, reinforcing it.

Then he released.

The arrow soared like a flare, and All Shirou could see in that brief flash of light was Yurt dead in its path, just a foot away from the tip.

There was a scream...a howl of surprised pain that was soon swallowed up into nothingness

As all was still again. Shirou could almost hear the whisper on the wind the touch of Yurt's final thoughts as his soul abandoned his flesh.

_'Mephistopheles was right about you.'_

There was silence, eerie and unnatural. Then the shadows retreated, light once more flooded the nexus.

Shirou could see now, See Freke's body...blood pooling beneath him...see Rin, lying at the stairwell, a knife in her gut.

"_No." _He thought a spike of panic driving itself through his chest. _No no no!"_

He threw his bow onto the floor, rushing towards the downed Magus.

He reached her side grabbing the pale girl, he moved to lift her when he heard a wet cough behind him.

Then the sound of blood splattering over the floor.

He turned, looking over his shoulder only to see Saber coughing more blood. All but hanging off of her blade as she used it as a crutch to keep herself upright.

Then he saw something all the more horrifying.

The Demon Soul.

It came together like mercury, pooling on the floor before it took shape, form, hovering just infront of Saber.

Then it moved towards her.

Shirou didn't have time to scream as Saber brought her gaze to the powerful soul.

The King of Knights didn't flinch. She didn't cry nor quail nor cower.

She leveled her steely gaze onto her oncoming death and faced it fearlessly.

* * *

I think I'll leave quickly to avoid the lynch mob.


	16. Chapter 16

"_Soul of the lost withdrawn from its vessel..."_

The starlight floor glowed, its runes swirling and twirling across the black backdrop as the glimmers of light danced along its rippling surface.

Freke's body lay there, a white cloth wrapped over his throat, hands laced over his chest, his hood drawn forward.

"_Let strength be granted so the world might be mended..."_

Shirou looked around, watching the others gathered there...everyone was here. Paying their respects, some in silence, some kneeling in prayer to their god, Umbassa.

Everyone but...

The starlight floor glowed, the runes aligning in perfect synchrony.

Then it opened. Like a flower bursting to full bloom, Freke's body was enveloped by starlight. Sinking down into liquid of silver glass before the runes realigned, the light faded, and all that was left was a rippling, empty void of stars.

"_So the world might be mended."_

And the maiden placed the tip of her staff to the floor at her feet, the runic seals swiveling once, as though locking.

Then it was done.

Sage Freke's soul and body had joined the Nexus.

Soon the others left, each filing out to their respective places. The death was sudden, tragic...but each one of them had already seen far too much of it to grieve for long...if at all. Not even Freke's student...

Shirou sighed, the burning grief smoldering through his chest, the guilt, the self-loathing. He should have woken up sooner...should have been faster...should have done more.

He felt a hand at his shoulder, he turned and couldn't help but smile softly at the concerned face that stared back at him. "I'm alright Saber."

His Servan't nodded. "Come on Shirou...we should go see Rin."

* * *

He twisted the towel in his hand draining it of excess ice-water before placing it on Sakura's scorching forehead.

"How's she doin?"

Archer looked back finding Ilya at the doorway, big red eyes staring at the shivering, feverish girl.

"The same." He said before standing.

"And you?" Ilya asked, pointedly. "I can feel your Prana ebbing away. An Archer class has independent action. You're stronger than most Archers but you can't go on indefinitely without a Master."

The Counter Guardian glared at the girl who only smiled back with a sly little smirk. Ilya was dangerous and conniving when she wanted to be.

He pulled the sheets up to Sakura's chin, then turned and began to march out the door, brushing past the woman-child.

"Come on." She scoffed walking after him. "You know you need a new Master! Either she used up her command seals or she's dead."

He stopped walking, visibly aggravated as he turned to look at her.

"Either way." The red eyed girl spread her hands, in a magnanimous gesture. "She can't be your master anymore."

"And then you have not only Berserker but-"

"The only Servant capable of killing him seven times." Her smile got wider, eyes gleaming, almost viciously. "Forgive me for not sounding too broken up at the prospect."

"And after the fighting is done you can order me to kill myself with a command seal...leaving you to hand Berserker his wish. I know where your loyalties lie Ilyasviel von Eisbern."

Her smirk fell away, replaced by puffed cheeks full of indignation. "You think I'd do that? I'd let you fight. If you managed to win then the wish would be yours."

Archer scoffed. Winning against Berserker? Alone? He knew who and what that servant was. And even with that advantage he had little doubt that fight would end in his death. Ilya knew that too.

"Archer." She said, and this time she sounded sincere, not coy, not smug, not predatory...

He looked at her, dead in the eye and she stared right back. "If Sakura doesn't wake up...you need a Master."

He took a deep breath. She was right...he was being stubborn, and only a part of him was hoping to stall long enough for Sakura to wake up. He didn't have long and with her condition as it was she wasn't gonna wake up in time. He'd already pushed much longer than he should have.

"I'll deal with that when I have to." He said once more beginning to walk away from her.

"Fine-whatever." She said, walking after him into the house kitchen. "Now what about what happened to you. Remember anything?"

"I've already told you no." He said reaching for a box of tea leaves. "Its...all fogged...maybe a blurred image or so. But I don't remember much."

"Well whatever happened. _I _could sense Rin and Shirou-nee on the other side. We were on the right track." She sat down on a kitchen stool, leaning over the table.

Archer placed the kettle over the stove. "Before we go making any more location seals we'd better try hunting for some additional alternatives."

"Like what?" She asked, incredulously.

"I don't know that's why I said we'd better try _hunting_ for them. I've lost my connection to Rin so the only one who could go through with it would be Sakura and the last thing we're doing is putting her through whatever meat-grinder we stepped into again unless we don't have any other choice."

Ilya groaned, rubbing her forehead as though to stave off the anticipatory headache. "Does this mean we've got to start reading again?"

"No. This means you've got to start reading again. I need to head out."

"Head out?" She asked looking up at him. "You have no master."

"True, but I don't like this." He said as he turned his head to look out the kitchen window. "We haven't heard anything. Not on the news, and neither you nor I have sensed anything. We have two masters and one servant here. And nothing has come anywhere near this place for weeks."

"You think someone's gonna get ready to hit us."

"One or more. You say you saw Saber kill Rider and you killed Riders Master. Saber, myself, and your Berserker makes four servants accounted for. That leaves Lancer, Caster and Assassin. All three of which, especially assassin, have me worried."

"Assassin is the weakest of the servants"

"Not for me, I can take care of myself I'm talking about you and Sakura. If assassin discovers this place or already has, soon enough he's gonna get in here to kill you both."

"And if he discovers this place and you leave...He'll kill us both anyway."

"I'll search the place before I leave but I have to at least get out there and look. Otherwise we're stumbling blind here and waiting for them to hit us, on their terms. And you know more than anyone else how bad that can be."

Ilya sighed through her nostrils, leaning back in her chair.

* * *

"Mmmmm" Rin all but moaned, as she sat against the wall. "Shirou...if my getting stabbed means I get to have food like this you might be spoiling a girl." Rin praised, for probably the first time ever. But after a week of the Nexus'...cuisine...Shirou's return was everything outside of a flat out godsend to her sense of taste.

"How are you feeling?" The redhead asked, kneeling at her side, Saber was standing just a few feet away.

She nodded, her glibness abating. "Better...I feel bad for Freke." She answered, truthfully. "Kinda hasn't sunk in yet. Do we know...why Yurt..."

"No." Shirou answered. "We have no idea."

Rin nodded, then turned her eyes towards Saber her lips turning upwards in something not quote a gentle smile but not quite a haughty smirk either. "Well look at you. You're looking like your old self again."

"The demons..." The Servant pause, as if trying to search for the right words. "They're fighting eachother...neither wants to be subservient to the other in this body...so they fight...exhausting their strength against eachother. Neither can divert their power to suppress or injure me."

"So...they're still there then? Awake?"

Saber nodded. Her face somber, almost troubled as she touched a hand to her chest. "I...I can almost feel them. Hear them..." Her face turned grim, determined as it always was. "But it won't be an issue. They do not influence me."

"I hope not." Rin said. "Because we're gonna need you."

"Rin." Shirou piped up, ever worried for his servant.

The brunette sat straighter, wincing as pain lanced through her stomach from the barely day old injury. It was enough to shut him up as he moved to help her, letting her happily interrupt."We have three more archdemons to bring down Shirou. Freke's dead, Yurt's dead for whatever good he might have been. And Ostrava and Biorr are hellbent on a two man crusade through Boletaria. Even if we could convince them; we brought down one Archdemon with Saber's help and the last was sheer dumb luck. Four humans, only one of which can use magic aren't strong enough. Saber is the only one that can go toe to toe against them for now."

"I will fight Shirou."

The teenaged Magus turned, looking between both females. "Saber we don't even know if you'll survive the fog, the demons are fine in here but out there, against other demons who knows what could-"

"Its something that we'll have to find out Master."

"Either she goes out there or we stay stuck here and that's not a prospect I'm enjoying given how dismal this place is turning out to be. I miss running water thank you." Rin piped up, backing Saber's statement.

Shirou opened his mouth to argue some more when the soft pitter patter of feet interrupted them.

Turning, the three of them found the maiden, standing between the massive pillars, looking towards them.

"The Monumental, awaits thee above."

* * *

She shivered in the cold. The stone was moist; freezing at her back. The cot was paper thin...

And it was more comfortable than anything she'd slept on in ages.

Yuria hugged her arms shivering in miserable cold, the thin, black rags that hung off her body doing nothing to shield her.

She hugged her legs, pulling her knees up, the crown of her head resting on them...

"Oi' lass." Her head snapped up, wide eyed and fearful like a deer caught in the headlights; she turned, her heart all but leaping to her throat to choke off her scream.

It was Biorr, massive and dressed in his simple tunic and trousers. His salt and pepper beard free of the confining helmet. "Lass...are you alright?"

She nodded, her head whipping up and down so fast her hat nearly fell off her head, hair whipping about her face. "I-I'm fine!"

Biorr eyed her. "No you're not." He said. "You're shiverin'-cryin."

The older man ducked out back, out of sight of the pillar that kept her sequestered from the others.

Yuria swallowed, trying to force down the knot in her windpipe.

Then Biorr was back, and Yuria found herself nearly flinching as the older man reached forward, a thick, wool blanket held out.

"Come on lass." He urged, holding out the woolen blanket. "You're safe here."

Yuria hesitated, her fingers trembling as she reached forward, looking at Biorr's gentle features.

"You're safe lass. Its ok."

She grasped the cloth. Pulling it towards her.

"_Thank you_."

* * *

"Her name is Mephistopheles."

"Why would this person help Yurt?" Saber asked, staring down at the diminutive form of the Monumental, his body seemed thin, withered and frail beneath the thick cloth of his robes.

"Or why was Yurt helping her?" Rin put in. "We don't know which one of them was the ring leader here." The brunette looked back to the monumental, tearing her eyes away from Saber. "Do you know what they were planning?"

"They wished to slay the Maiden. To what end...I cannot say. But Mephistopheles is powerful in the soul arts. Stronger than Freke. Perhaps stronger than most demons. I cannot sense her, but I know that she resides somewhere close to the nexus. Somewhere beyond the reach of the Fog, for the time being."

"Well that's just great news." Rin groaned.

"We can't leave them alone then."

Saber and Rin both turned to look at Shirou, their eyes asking him to continue and finish the thought.

"Think about it." He said. "If they could get in here, which, this woman might be able to do, then they could attack the Maiden, or any of the others while we're gone. We can't leave them alone."

Rin forwent the groan and simply slapped her forehead. "This just keeps getting better."

"Then someone has to stay and guard them."

Rin brought her head out of her hand; snapping her fingers. "Got it."

* * *

"You want us to stay here?"

Rin nodded from her place on the ground. Shirou, Saber, Ostrava, Biorr and the Monumental forming a perfect human circle on the balcony that overlooked the Nexus. To an outsider their picture must have looked strange indeed, surrounded as they were by the pale, petrified corpses of what seemed like children monks.

"You have to. The Nexus is our only safe haven. If this Mephistopheles woman can get back in here and kill the others..."

"But..." Ostrava began, clearly torn. "Boletaria-"

"Is a dead wasteland." Rin scathingly cut in.

"We found a survivor!"

"One, in god knows how many days of searching!"

"There could always be more out-"

"My prince." Surprisingly, it was Biorr that cut in. "We have a duty. We are honor bound to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Our honor demands that we stay and defend those we _know_ we can save. Over those we only _might_ be able to save."

The young prince looked for a moment as though he would argue some more when the fight seemed to drain out of him.

He nodded.

There was a silence between the lot of them. Saber broke it after a moment.

"We have to decide then, what Archdemon we destroy next." The King of Knights passed her eyes over the entire group, finally locking gazes with Shirou last."

* * *

The shadow moves in the dark.

"What have you found?" Zouken says, his voice a poisonous whisper, slithering across his room.

"The Servant Lancer patrols the city; The caster remains atop her mountain shrine."

"And the Archer?"

"Still with Masters that are not his own." The shadow replies, tilting his head, almost in curiosity.

"You have not discovered Lancer's Master?"

The shadow shook his head. "That one hides well. The lancer never returns to the same place, and always behind a boundary field..."

"Something is wrong here..." Zouken thought aloud, fingers gripping his cane as he leaned back in his seat.

"Should I slay the Einzbern and the Matou?"

The old crone frowned, a sneer dancing on his features, making them seem all the more grisly as it carved deep lines across the map of his face.

Three servants found, two missing, or dead, one most certainly dead.

Something was not adding up here. And Zouken had already foolishly squandered one servant in this war. He would not squander another until he knew all the facts.

Still...there was one piece on this chessboard he should wished to eliminate...even if he was not technically a Master.

"No...leave them be for now. I have another task for you."

"What is thy bidding then?"

"Find and eliminate Kotomine Kirei."

* * *

This chapter is a bit short, the next one will be roughly the same length.

Now as for Zouken. Its arguable that Zouken already knows about Gilgamesh, and Kotomine and Lancer, however, there is little more than purely circumstantial evidence to support this. Sakura knew about Gilgamesh but there was no guarantee she told Zouken about it at all since at no time did Zouken or Shinji make any remark to indicate a knowledge about an all powerful Servant or that Kotomine was a threat. He actually seemed mildly surprised when Kotomine teamed up with Shirou in the Heaven's feel route. So I'm erring on the side of caution here. So he doesn't know about Kotomine being Lancers Master or about Gilgamesh' continued existence.

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed it for what it was worth Soon enough, a lot of "big" things will be happening in both the Fate world and the Souls world. Here's to you all my readers sticking around till then. ;[


	17. Chapter 17

Stone Fang Mountain.

The greatest peak in the whole continent. It could be seen from nearly anywhere, night or day. The dwarves had made this place their home. From here they'd mined the riches and seemingly endless troves of metals the great mountain had to offer them.

They'd dug and dug...too greedily and too deep.

They found it by accident.

Already built, already carved out of the rock.

A hollow. A tomb. An altar.

Carved out of stone, surrounded by fire. It housed a great and terrible beast, with wings as large as the walls of Boletaria, a skull that could smash its greatest gates.

The Dragon.

It became their God. The fire that surrounded it, that it had left behind, and fueled their forges another. Worshiped and exploited. The Dwarves had further dug into the stone of the mountain, ever more seeking riches, staying clear of the great structure they'd stumbled on in the deep.

When the fog came some of the dwarves had barely noticed. They'd just kept digging. Even as their skin turned to scales of rock, even as their bodies lengthened, their limbs strengthened, their beards and hair falling away in clumps. As their domesticated spiders and insects that dug through the depest tunnels mutated and grew. They just kept digging.

They kept digging through the fiery hell that consumed the lower levels. They kept digging, ignoring the bellowing roars that shook the very mountain itself as they rose up from the bowels of their mines.

Until finally, one day all that existed was the obsession. The thought of the next glimmering gem that would be uncovered. The next vein unearthed.

Now, all they did was dig. Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, chipping away at rock without reason or pause.

But even if she would have known all this, all Rin could have really said when she saw the place was:

"That is _tall_."

Behind her, Saber and Shirou could only gape in agreement.

They stood near the Archstone, a sheer drop behind them, the valley so far away Shirou could almost swear he was staring out the window of a plane, and still they were nowhere near the peak. They couldn't even see the peak, obscured by dark clouds above but they could tell by the sheer width of the mountain face they could see that the peak was nowhere close to that cloud cover.

The three stared at the scenery for another moment. Impressive as it was though, they didn't have the luxury of sitting and gawking all day.

Around them are stone and wood structures, scaffolding of some kind, higher up the mountain they can see much the same, like the whole mountain was under some kind of freakish repair like a Renaissance cathedral.

"There." Saber said, pointing, and the three of them could see an archway, high and slender, leading straight into the rock about a hundred yards away.

They ascended some stairs, crossing a stone bridge, its sharp angles reflecting the dwarves perfect craftsmanship when it came to stonework.

As they drew closer, the sounds of clanging steel reached them along with the crumbling of stone and the squeak of rusted wheels.

Saber tightened her grip on her weapon. "Get behind me."

They marched through the archway.

The air within was cloyed; with heat, coal dust and the stink of stillness. Even with the wide open archway the air still smelled distinctly stale. Like it was stuck in here.

Mounds of coal were all around them, and standing all along the coal, shoveling it bit by bit onto large iron wagons were creatures.

Tall, slender at the arms thicker at the waist, with scales of stone. The creatures turned to them, with an almost benign curiosity before turning back to their task, endlessly shoveling and chipping, digging further and further as the wagons were pushed along when full.

They don't even spare the three of them a second glance.

"What's wrong with them?" Shirou asked.

Saber walked to the closest one, raising a hand and tapping it on the shoulder.

The creature paused for a moment, turning to look at her before its beady little eyes returned to its task, diligently chipping away.

"Is this the fog? Or do they just not care?" She asked.

"Both maybe?" Rin answered before grabbing onto Shirou's sleeve. "Come on...we should keep moving."

And so they delved deeper through the halls of Stone Fang mines its workers all but uncaring at these strangers in their midst.

* * *

It becomes apparent, that the dangers of Stone Fang mine, has little to do with its inhabitants, and more to do with the functions of the mine itself.

Mines are not known as eixemplars of work safety procedures and now, with its people the way they are, its even less so. The very pretense of safety has been thrown out the proverbial window with massive rocks being thrown from ledges on high, boiling metal bubbling out of open forges, the black smog of burning coal choking the very air.

Rin and Shirou's eyes are tearing up, after just a few minutes. The heat is brutal, the mines, a maze, the very air they're breathing is poisonous, choking fume.

Only Saber seems capable of enduring this place and the heat is causing even her to sweat a bit. She grabs onto Shirou's hand, and he in turn, grabs onto Rin's.

Its not long before the Servant's task of leading her two friends nearly dragging them through this horrid place as their coughing gets so bad they can barely even stand upright, let alone navigate the winding stone passages and narrow, flimsy scaffolding.

When the light of the sun reaches their eyes, Rin and Shirou all but sprint towards it it is all Saber can do to make them wait for her to make sure there isn't some trap lying in wait.

When the two emerge to the scorching sun they very nearly hack up their lungs. Shirou is leaning on his own knees; coughing so violently spittle leaks from his mouth, down to the floor as he breathe's harshly.

Rin is little better, only attempting to be a bit more discreet as she leans close to a wall, leaning on it almost completely.

Saber watches them both and turns her eyes back inside to the sound of squeaking hinges, metal striking metal and the chipping of stone.

She looks above her, where thick, billowing black smoke, snakes its way out of the mouth of the tunnel to keep rising towards the sky.

She finds herself wondering...if that cloud cover was really just that. Or more a miasma of smog from the stacks and chimneys that belch out the smoke from this mountain.

Its disconcerting just how massive this place is.

Shirou finally seems to recover, picking himself up to stand straighter, he walks a little further away from the Mine's entrance searching for fresher air.

Saber watches him walk. Seeing no threats or potential dangers as she waits for Rin's constitution to overcome the recent assault that was a trek through the mines.

Shirou takes several deep breaths of fresh, clean air, nearly _savoring_ the sensation. Its not long before he hears the *clang, clang, clang*** **of a Blacksmith Hammer striking steel. He thinks its just more of the miners at work until, faintly, he hears words accompanying the strikes.

_'Hahahaha! Yes! Finally! There it is!'_

He marches closer, peering down into a pit. A faint orange glow at the botom, obscured by more smoke.

"Hey!" He shouts to Rin and Saber. "There's someone down there.

The two girls turn to him, looking at him like he's gone half crazed himself before they march over.

When they arrive all they hear is silence.

"The smoke get to your head Shirou?" Rin asks, looking down into the pit.

"I'm telling you I heard something." He replies, looking around. He sees a crank at the end of the walkway, worn with rust and grime, he steps up to it, trying to turn the wheel.

For half a moment it seems like it won't do anything. Saber is ready to ask her Master to step aside when Shirou's strength wins over the decay of time and the crank goes off with a screech of protesting metal.

Then the scaffolding they're standing on starts moving.

Like a giant platform elevator the wood descends into the pit while another that had been resting at the bottom, rises. Like a human water wheel.

Finally, they reach the bottom, and all three of them jump off the platform before it rises back up again.

Shirou's eyes immediately flit about the whole room.

Weapons...

Dozens...maybe even hundreds of weapons, each a finer example of craftsmanship than the last.

Spears, swords, glaives, axes, claws mauls, halberds, hammers bows crossbows and a slew of other unidentifiable pieces of deadly ingenuity lined the walls along with suits of armor.

It was one though that caught his eye, one lone blade that he approached.

When a pile of soot covered rags lurched up like some-cheap, 1930's TV monster Shirou was wholly unprepared for the metal covered fist that flew out of its revealed hiding spot and caught him dead in the jaw with enough force to knock him flat on his ass.

"WRAAAGH!" The cloth monster shouted as it fell on Shirou, its metal fist rising as the red headed youth projected and reinforced a simple metal kite shield to hold over his face as the blows rained down. "Out! Out! Out of my forge ya scaly, beady eyed monsters! This is my place get out!"

The clangs of metal fist striking metal plate rang through the forge like the blows of a hammer on hot steel, At some point Shirou noticed that Rin was holding onto Saber's wrist, stopping the bemused servant from interfering, thoroughly enjoying Shirou's current predicament in the face of this adequately benign threat.

It wasn't long before his asailaint tired, his most offensive power being the ocasional obscenity or two that threatened Shirou's thick skin as the hammer fists came slower and weaker with every strike. "My forge...filthy creature...mine..." It panted harshly, the metal fist resting against the kite shield. "Gimme a moment to catch my breath and I'll keep killing you..."

Taking that as her cue, Rin stepped forward, ignoring Shirou's irritated look as she gripped some Blacksmith tongs that looked a bit cleaner than the rest of this place and used them to pluck the filthy pieces of cloth and hide that covered Shirou's assailant.

The red headed youth lowered the kite shield peeking over the edge.

The last thing he really expected was an almost four foot nothing dwarf, balding so that the edges of his hair alone remained, green tinged scales patching his skin as pitch black forge goggles hid his eyes from view.

"Feel better now?" Rin asked coyly, though, from the way Shirou could sense the prana surging just beneath her skin at this range she was ready to defend herself if the dwarf attacked again.

For his part, the dwarf straightened, surprise on his features before he wiped at his goggles, revealing that they weren't black, just covered in a thickened layer of soot. He looked to Shirou, then to Rin and Saber with comically large eyes.

"...Well...aren't you a damn sight prettier than whatever crawled down here last time."

* * *

"The Archdemon?"

Blacksmith Ed, as they'd learned his name, sat on his cot, cross-legged staring at his three guests. Rin and Saber were seated on some wooden stools he'd managed to fish out of his numerous junk piles. Shirou was sitting on the floor, the four of them forming a loose semi-circle.

Ed was scratching at his chin. "I never seen it. But I got an idea o' where it could be, aye. What kinda crazy you'd have to be to go down there is a whole different deal tho'"

"We have no choice." Saber announced, her voice firm. "The Archdemons have to be destroyed."

Ed sighed. "Well you'll have a right time with this one. The way down is guarded by all manner of creature and magic."

"Such as?" Rin asked hoping to find out what to expect.

"Those scaly bastards for one."

"They seem rather passive." She prodded, raising an eyebrow.

"The one's up top sure. Down below though, as you delve deeper into the mines those buggers start getting angrier. They kno that's where the demon is and they kno that's what they got to protect."

"Wonderful." The brunette muttered sarcastically.

"Oh it gets better." Ed bemoaned. "Spiders, once the size of a small ox. We used them to dig out our tunnels. Now tho' now the fog has turned the creatures feral. Eating eachother they've grown to monstrous sizes, what few of them are left, the demonic aura of this place seeping into their skin, lettin them take the properties of Stonefang itself. Iron flesh, much like how we dwarves grew stone scales, the power of fire..." Ed shook his head. "Then after that, it gets even better."

"Of course it does." To some shock from Rin and Saber it was Shirou who was bemoaning his current lot in life.

Ed nodded. "Bear bugs. We always had a right hard time with the buggers but now without us to hunt them down their numbers have exploded. They are the fire and rock of Stonefang made flesh. And if that aint enough, rock worms, creatures that spit themselves out of the ground to spit boiling rock at your face. And all that has got to be challenged while suffocating from the heat of lava and a maze of tunnels that could turn about whatever fool mannages to get that far for _months_. Oh trust me ladies. Gettin to the Archdemon's gonna be the toughest fight of your wee lives and that's _if _ya have a hope and a prayer of destroying the beast itself."

The three dimension jumpers looked at eachother, emotions ranging from steely determination to worried weariness flitting between the three.

Ed stood, marching over to another junk pile before he began rummaging through the mess of steel, rotting wood and soot covered rags.

After a moment, the man pulled out a long box dragging it over to the lone solitary tablehe roughly brushed all the contents asside, scattering them violently on the floor. "Bloody mess..." He muttered, opening the box as the others came up behind him.

He pulled out some rolled up papers, revealing massive, intricately detailed maps as he unrolled it over the table. "You'll be needin' this if you're headin' down there." He paused, anchoring the edges of the curling page as Rin leaned over, looking at the map.

Then he turned and rummaged through some more junk.

As he was doing that Rin spoke.

"What's _Drur-Kol_?"

"Its the heart of Stone Fang." He answered, guessing she must have seen the name at the base of the map, at the very center of the mountain. "The deepest we've ever dug." He pulled at the item he wanted, steel and bits of iron clattering down from where they were knocked loose. "That's where you'll find your Archdemon."

"Figures." She answers.

"Aye if it be anywhere it'll be there." He returned to the table, dropping three primitive looking gas masks. "You'll need these too if you want to avoid suffocating."

Ed watched them as they looked at the contraptions each giving them a once over.

The old dwarven blacksmith spoke once more, gesturing around himself. "Feel free to take whatever weapons ya want. Won't do much good hung on these walls really."

Immediately, Shirou turned, eyes once more finding that one blade that had caught his eye. "What about that one?"

Ed turned, then winced. "Figures you'd find the one piece that isn't finished yet."

"Its not?"

Saber questioned before Shirou could. The blade looked well enough. It had a grip, pommel, handguard, blade. It was sharpened, polished. It seemed like the most pristine thing here.

Ed shook his head. "No, it aint." He marched forward, looking at the frustrating piece. "Its shape came to me in a dream almost. The metal practically folded itself...but its...just not done. Something's missing. Can't let you take this one till I find out what that somethin might be. When I do...it'll be the most powerful blade this continent has ever seen...I'm sure of it."

Looking at the remarkable sword, something in Shirou agreed with the smith's words.

* * *

The fires danced...they danced on her fingers, soul magic coming to her as easilly as breathing.

She'd never had a teacher, never had a proper instruction.

She was just...power.

The magic she wielded was the purest expression of power.

And she'd learned to fear it with every fiber of her being.

Outside of the fog, she was feared, labeled a witch by serfs of the church, a hexer by the townsfolk of the countryside, a danger by the nobility.

And within the fog...within the fog she was something else...something that could slay entire garrisons, burning whole groups of maddened men in an instant of panic, their howling screams of agony reverberating through her skull until it hurt, waking her in the night with frightened screams that she muffled only as she bit down on her own hands until they bled.

But...as ever the power called to her, beckoned her, and sooner or later she had to use it.

And so now the flames danced along her fingers, coiling and writhing tongues of flame as she hid within one of the many alcoves that made up the Nexus, away from prying eyes.

"Yuria! Yuria! Where are ye lass? Its time ta eat!"

She snuffed out the flame quickly, nearly panicking at how close his voice was before she hastilly turned the corner, smothering the call of magic beneath her skin. "I'm here!" She called and saw the older male smile as he caught sight of her.

* * *

The heat was suffocating, even with the masks, Rin could almost feel her head swim after so long underground, the fire of the forges still white hot with lizard men clanging and banging on steel, creating struts to hold up the tunnels in their ever expanding mine.

She sucked down as much air as she could but always she felt as though it wasn't enough she had to pause several times to try and catch her breath, her clothes sticking to her body, drenched with sweat didn't help at all.

Saber, and to a lesser extent, Shirou, seemed to be faring better. Saber due to being a Servant and Shirou possibly because of all the souls he'd absorbed, so far, she only had one soul to her name, and right now, that beast wasn't cutting it.

"S-stop." She gasped, leaning against a wall. "I'm...I need a minute."

Her voice was muffled through the mask, but her friends heard her easily enough Shirou and Saber nodded. It _galled _to be the weakest link in the chain but she really couldn't help it. The heat would go nowhere and they needed to reach the Archdemon.

She was ready to slide down the wall and sit when Saber seemed to perk up, turning her eyes the other way.

Exhausted, and feeling as though she was about to pass out from the heat didn't disorient Rin enough to miss something like that. "What's wrong?"

"Cold." Saber answered. "I feel cold air coming from down this tunnel."

Shirou stepped forward, holding his hand out, his voice muffled through the mask just like hers. "I feel it too."

That was all Rin needed, a surge of sudden energy welling up in her limbs she pushed off the rock wall and made her way closer, feeling the cold draft of air that sent delicious shivers through her heat beaten skin.

She marched closer, all but brushing past her two friends, the deeper she ventured, the colder it got until she felt as though she was standing in an air conditioned room.

They delved deeper and soon enough Rin and Shirou felt comfortable enough to remove their masks as they seemed to be approaching the end of the tunnel.

They emerged into a scene they would each remember for the rest of their lives.

It was a hollow. A bubble within the rocks, snow-melt water cascading down from the walls, just above freezing temperature to fall endlessly into an underwater lake, its waters lapping at their feet as crystalline shards of ice made the walls sparkle like a thousand diamonds, a single dwarven chandelier hung above the lake, its intricate, swooping curves of hand forged glass, sparkling with white flames, reflected off the waters in the basin, completing the image to one that few in their world could ever hope to match.

"Oh my-" Was Rin's breathless half sentence.

"This is beautiful."

Saber said nothing, but her wide eyes and slightly parted lips said it all. It took her a moment, a long moment, but eventually she did break their silence. "This must be how the Dwarves could stay so isolated. If they created these to reach water to other parts of the mountain then they could do anything, raise crops, animal husbandry, be completely self sufficient. And all through snowmelt from the mountain peaks."

"This'll be a good spot to rest." Rin remarked, trying to stifle down her awe.

Saber nodded. "Its cold...cold is better than heat though."

To Rin, at this point putrid roadkill would be better than the infernal heat of dwarven forges, ironworks and the natural volcanic activity rumbling beneath stonefang, the fumes and heat of which was allowed to escape through dwarven made vents.

Shirou knelt, unfurling his pack to begin settling down for a few hours. Even he, with his higher resistance was not looking forward to returning to the suffocating mess that were the tunnels of Stonefang mountain.

* * *

The mass was over. Kotomine watched as his 'flock' soon departed. He cleaned the chalice then the ciboria. Keeping to the rituals the robe denoted him for as what few assistants remained helped clean up the church and close the doors before they made ready to leave themselves, each one of them offering their goodbyes as he offered the same, blessing them as they soon departed.

None, not even Kotomine, ever noticed the patient shadow lurking within the blessed halls of the chapel.

* * *

Before they were ready to move again Saber's sharp ears caught a sound before either Rin or Shirou. "Someone's coming!"

The two teenagers took her word for it, barely even hesitating before they spread out for each one to get a hiding spot. Saber took a second longer, looking around before jumping, standing above the entrance archway where the sounds of footsteps were coming from.

A minute later they saw a man enter the cavern, shaggy, straw blond hair trying desperately to remain on a head with a pronounced receding hairline. He marched up to the underground lake, dipping a waterskin into the basin and waiting patiently until the bubble's stopped emerging before pulling the full skin free, its heavy weight bringing a smile to his face.

He turned around only to solidly bump into the King of Knights herself.

He looked startled, crying out in surprise before, much to Saber's surprise, turned and ran, nearly tripping over himself in his haste. He kept his eyes back, looking at her, so focused was he he ran straight into Shirou, solidly slamming into the youth in an almost comical display before falling flat on his ass.

He looked up, blinking at the teenager before looking back to Saber who was joined by Rin.

When he spoke, the man's stutter was so pronounced they had to really listen to make out the words that he tripped over, which was every other word.

"I don't h-have any valuables!"

"We're not going to rob you." Shirou attempted to calm the man.

"Y-your not?" He sputtered. "But all that come down here are looting brigands with no decency or knowledge of their own histories!"

"People actually come down here?" Rin asked, walking up to him.

"W-well y-you d-did d-didn't you?"

"Because we have a job to do here?"

"Job? What kind of j-jo-oh." He paused eyes going wide. "Do you come for the demons?"

"The archdemon in particular." Saber replied.

"Who are you though? What are you doing here." Shirou offered the man his hand, pretending not to notice how Saber gripped tighter on the hilt of her invisible weapon, hand tensing up.

"My name's Scirvir, as it please you." He answered, taking the offered hand and being pulled to his feet. "Just a simple wanderer. I adore trinkets and learning."

"So you came to stone fang?" Rin asked, incredulous. "Couldn't you have found somewhere else that wasn't so abysmally hot?"

"O-oh I didn't come for the forges. Though the dwarves were always known as the fi-finest of m-metal smiths. I came to see the temple!"

"The temple!?" Rin was the first of the three to jump on that, reaching over and grabbing at the map rolled up into an inner pocket of Shirou's grey burlap cloak. Unfurling it to show it to the balding man. "This temple!?" She asked, pointing all the way at the bottom.

Scirvir blinked, looking at the map curiously. "Y-yes! This is exactly it. Its remarkable you found an intact dwarven map. Though many of the tunnels are off. So many have collapsed since the fog came and the lizard men keep digging more every day. The path there has completely changed."

"Great." Rin growled, ignoring the looks of mixed dismay and frustration Shirou and Saber now sported.

"B-but I know how to get there..." Scirvir said, also noticing their downtrodden faces. Then he seemed to remember something and his face fell his stuttering becoming even _worse_ if that was possible. "B-but...No...its best that we not go down there."

"Why not?" Saber asked.

"The demons, they guard the way." Scirvir answered. "I snuck past the first with my magic but that's as far as I could go. The next demon is just...monstrous."

"What is it?" Shirou cut in, looking at the two. "Maybe now we'll get to know about our enemy before barging in."

"For a change." Rin agreed.

"W-well. The first is a spider, the dwarves used smaller ones to carve stable tunnels but this one...w-well after the fog came he got...large."

"How large?" Rin tried not to show it. But she truly did _hate_ spiders. Too many eyes, too many legs, too many _everything._

"Big as a barn! And not only that, its whole skin is forged of the hardest steel I've ever seen. It can tear through solid stone with no effort and rip those lizard men to bits like mutton chops.

"And the next?"

"Oh that's a real monster! Nearly killed me by just getting close. Its fire."

Shirou, Rin and Saber raised an eyebrow. "Fire?"

Scirvir nodded. "Just...pure walking living flame. I tried an old water spell I knew but it did nothing, the fires couldn't be doused."

"And there's no way around?" Rin asked.

"None." The wanderer answered before looking down at the map again, frowning. "Its strange. The map says there's many ways to get to the temple but all are collapsed, all but-"

"One." Rin cut in before looking to her two friends. "Do you guys think those lizard men arent as brainlessly digging as we thought?"

It took Shirou a moment longer than Saber to get the implication, so it was the servant who spoke. "They're collapsing the tunnels to make intruders have to fight the demons."

"One being a giant, armored spider and the other being living fire that can't be turned off." Shirou supplied.

Rin groaned, slapping her forehead.

Several moments of silence passed before the brunette broke each out of their respective thoughts. "Well look on the bright side."

"What possible bright side could this have?" Shirou barked incredulously.

"Given the fact that these two sound so strong, maybe the Archdemon of this place will be a cakewalk after we're done with them?"

Her grin held an uneasiness that was reflected in her friends.

* * *

Ok. This chapter was frustrating to write. Primarily because 2 weeks ago it was by and large -finished- then there was an error on my comp in which I was forced to reinstall windows, ergo, I lost all of the written work for this story and Jewels of Fate. So that major setback drained me of my enthusiasm for a while then when I actually got down to writing it I realized I'd just have to reiterate everything I already put down and that as anyone who's ever lost work that has to be reiterated knows, makes it frustrating which makes the work sloppy, reflecting my enthusiasm.

So if this chapter's not up to snuff I apologize as for my other stories I'm hoping to be able to get back to updating them soon, hopefully faster since I didn't write nearly so much for them as I had for this one at the time I had to reinstall Win7.

Also to an anonymous reader titled "**Lord Kyuubi**" there is a response waiting for you on my profile page if you so happen to be reading this fic I hope to catch you if not well I'll be posting notices on similar AN's for my other works when next I update.


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